Redemption by shrooms

Awhile ago, I had to take a crash-course in cooking simply because the situation warranted it. Before that, my domestic skills were... somewhat non-existent. I was kinda known for it. More than once I'd lived in a place for over a year without being able to say for sure whether the stove worked, because I'd never tried to use it. The fridge was basically stocked with condiments and various distilled liquids.

There was even a nasty rumor going around about how, when I was pushed to have someone over for a dinner on real plates where I slept, the food would be ordered and the dishes thrown away instead of being cleaned and reused. I can neither confirm nor deny that specific rumor, but it would be in character.

But as I said, circumstances changed, and one has to... show some adaptability. In some ways this went really, really well. I can make a mad-good pasta dish with clams, garlic and oil. But there have been casualties, mostly due to errant experimentation.

The worst were prolly the mint brownies I tried to make. They started off as regular brownies, but hey, everyone likes mint & chocolate, and I had mint extract... and didn't really realize that a little goes a long, long way when it comes to extract. I thought I was being cautious with a few tablespoons. Swear to god, you thought you'd just brushed your teeth after having one.

There are others, like the rum-balls that were, um, pretty much mostly rum. Or the god-awful ham story, but that's still so embarrassing there's no reason to subject myself to more ridicule here. Gawd that was embarrassing. Besides, I've redeemed myself tonight.

How-so, you ask?

Mushrooms! (no, not that kind)

Take a big frying pan and a whole big pile of mushrooms you've cleaned and sliced. Add in some olive oil, and several cloves of garlic you've sliced up... cook until just before the garlic is going to start to brown, you want the oil to soak it all up. Add in a bunch of basil towards the end of sauteing the garlic, so the oil gets some of that too.

Add in your big pile of mushrooms, then some Johnny's Seasoning Salt (friend brought back a big bottle from Seattle for me... it's worth it, especially for chicken, yum), some thyme and some pepper. Stir up and cover, stirring fairly often.

Towards the end, add in a bunch of red wine (i used a leftover merlot). The mushrooms will soak up a lot right away, so you want enough that you have a bit standing in the pan. Bring up the heat and let cook really well and stir, you want all the alcohol to cook out (yeah, I know, seems counterintuitive) so you get the flavor but not the alcohol taste. The wine will really cook down while you simmer.

Lay the mushrooms over some chicken breasts you've seasoned and grilled/fried/baked, and drizzle the leftover wine/mushroom/garlic mixture over them.

Ge-awd I'm so impressed with myself.