Sautéed mushrooms with black trumpets. Keto, gluten-free, low carb, vegetaritan

A few weeks back, my husband made me some truly decadent sautéed mushrooms, using our FAVORITE wild mushroom: the black trumpet.

Black trumpets don't get the fame of chanterelles, porcini, morels or truffles, but there is nothing else on earth quite like their flavor. Black trumpets taste like the essence of the forrest, woodsy, earthy, and super rich. Even their smell is like putting your face down to the earth, and taking a deep inhale: you get a heady aroma of moss, dead leaves, black soil. . .
and just a hint of funk. Kind of like truffles, black trumpet aroma is weird-good, and promises amazing things to come.

The thing about black trumpets is that they are rather small and fragile, very thin-fleshed, so they don't make a very good meal on their own. The good news is their flavor is so intense that you can use these mushrooms almost as a spice, where just a little goes a long way. The secret is to dry them first.

This is 1 gram of black trumpets, and we used it to flavor over a pound
of other mushrooms.

Reconstituted, with their liquor.
Liquor here refers to the highly-flavorful liquid the
mushrooms were reconstituted in.

Even just a few dried and reconstituted black trumpets can add a ton of flavor to a neutral medium.

They work amazingly well in breads, cream sauces, pastas, etc. You can also pulverize the dried mushrooms and sprinkle the powder on fish or meat, or add it to dry rubs and spice blends.

Dried, black trumpets retain their flavor for years. The mushrooms used in this recipe were foraged back in 2013; we've yet to find black trumpets in Texas, so we are still working with our New Jersey stock. 

This recipe uses only a single gram of dried mushrooms, or about 8 small specimens, and my hubby has made the sauce with even fewer. By using regular, store-bought button mushrooms, you can make a little bit of black trumpet mushroom  go a long way for flavor. 

These sautéed mushrooms are gluten-free and very keto. The recipe is low in carbs, but very high in fat. This is not a diet dish, but for a once-in-a-while treat, it's worth it. The recipe itself is vegetarian, and can be used as a side dish, or tossed with pasta, risotto or quinoa as a main course. Of course, we put it on steak. This is Texas, after all. 

Sautéed mushrooms with black trumpets

Makes about 4 cups of mushrooms, recipe can be halved

1lb fresh white button or cremini mushrooms, sliced

4-6 oz fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1 gram dried black trumpet mushrooms

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

6 tbs. butter (preferably grass-fed)

1/2 cup high-temp olive oil

1 oz. cheese rind*, sliced. (We used a goat cheese, but any will work.) 

Kosher or sea salt

1. Add your black trumpets to a small bowl, and cover with room-temperature water--just enough water to cover. Set aside for 20mins-1 hour.
2. In a large sauté pan, heat 1/2 olive oil over medium-high heat. We used a 5qt. sauté. Once heated, add 3 tbs. of butter and allow to melt, stirring slightly. 
3. Add in your sliced mushrooms, a pinch of kosher or sea salt, and toss or stir to coat with oil and butter. 
4. Sauté, stirring or tossing occasionally, until mushrooms are al dente, or almost cooked, about 20 minutes. 

   

   The mushrooms are about 3/4 cooked, this is when you add the black trumpets

5. Add in your black trumpets, with the liquid used to reconstitute them. Stir. As soon as the black trumpets meet the butter, we got an aroma explosion in the kitchen. I wish we could share it with you!
6. Add the slices of cheese rind, just sitting on top is fine. Sauté for another 10 minutes or so, moving the mushrooms constantly so they brown on all sides and don't stick to the pan. You will also need to continually reduce the heat. 
7. When the mushrooms are fully cooked, reduce heat to low and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. 
8. Working a tablespoon or two at a time, add in the cream. You want to pour it in slowly, and stir it in immediately. If you want to make this a cream sauce, use 2 cups of cream total. 
9. Remove from heat and serve immediately. 

Done and ready to enjoy!

* A cheese rind is the edge of a hard cheese, edible, but usually rubbery
and less appetizing. Using cheese rinds to add body and richness to sauce is a great
way to use food items that might otherwise end up as waste.