A Mushroom Roasting-Method That Gives You Both Crispy Edges & Rich Sauce

Sally Schneider’s roasted mushrooms, found within her recipe for coq au vin in A New Way to Cook, is one of many that relies on technique—not butter or salt or other enrichments—to build flavor.

It’s a two-step process. First the mushrooms roast in a covered pan with shallots, thyme, garlic, and wine:

After thirty minutes in this steamy environment, the mushrooms shrink, releasing much of their liquid, which, when mixed with the now-seasoned wine, creates a flavorful broth.

This broth then gets poured off and reserved, and the mushrooms return to the oven uncovered at a higher temperature where they roast until their edges brown:

For her coq au vin, Schneider mixes the mushroom broth with chicken stock (and later, port, Madeira, and red wine) to make a braising liquid, but the broth is incredibly tasty on its own, too. When it’s reduced stovetop briefly, its flavors concentrate into a rich, aromatic, umami-filled sauce. This whole roasting and reducing process takes about an hour, but the time is mostly hands off, and the result—a two-for-one, mushrooms plus a sauce—is well worth the wait.

The mushrooms and sauce could be tossed with buttered egg noodles or spooned over garlic-rubbed toasts, but creamy polenta is a particularly good match.

And if you cook the polenta on the stovetop while the mushrooms roast, the timing works out perfectly: Just as the cornmeal softens completely, the mushrooms will emerge with edges caramelized. At this time, too, the reducing mushroom broth will be ready for one final touch: a pad of butter, a modest enrichment that gives the sauce body and silkiness.

Even Schneider, I think, would approve.