Button Mushroom

This delicious, classic dish from the Burgundy region of France is designed to showcase the wines for which the area is famous. (We like anything that celebrates wine. Oui, oui!) Beef Burgundy can appear at first glance as a mere stew, but those of us who have had the pleasure of making this dish know that during the hours it slowly cooks in the oven something magical happens. The flavors of the broth are intensified by the wine, and it thickens into a velvety smooth sauce. Once finished, the cuts of beef are so tender they almost seem to melt. Traditionally, Beef Burgundy is made with wine from the French province of Burgundy. If you have trouble finding a true Burgundy (they can be pretty pricy!), the best substitutes are Pinot Noirs from California or Oregon. We suggest serving this over our Perfect Rice Every Time (page 195) and with our Rockin’ Tomatoes Rockefeller (page 139).

Chicago’s best-loved food is deep-dish pizza. Do it up right, just as they do in the windy city, with heaping portions of spicy, hot Italian sausage, green peppers, fresh mushrooms, and onions. You can cheat a little and use refrigerated dough, but if you don’t want to upset the mob, try making your own dough from scratch (see page 194). Chicago-style pizza and our beloved home of Austin, Texas, have more of a connection than one might realize. Reportedly, the famous Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was invented by former University of Texas football star Ike Sewell. Go Horns!

From Russia with love! Our stroganoff has all the velvety richness of the original comfort-food favorite, with just a little kick (we can’t help ourselves—we’re from Texas, where Tabasco sauce is practically a food group). Our secret ingredient is tomato soup! We added the soup to brighten up the overall flavor of the dish. But don’t worry, our variation of this classic is still enough to make you want to Cossack-dance your way back for seconds.

In Italy, one of the most popular recipes for stuffed mushrooms hails from Liguria, the northern region that stretches along the Mediterranean coast (actually, the body of water here is called the Ligurian Sea) from the border of France all the way down to Tuscany. The capital of the region is Genoa, which on the one hand is the birthplace of pesto, and on the other is a port city where seafood is worked into recipes where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it. Like mushrooms, for example, which they stuff with salted anchovies, marjoram, and bread crumbs. That recipe is a little complex, so I’ve omitted the little fishes and simplified. This is not only a great side dish, but also the perfect antipasto for a casual get-together.

The secret to the intense mushroom flavor in this recipe is that not only are mushrooms themselves part of the mix, but the risotto is cooked with mushroom-flavored broth. In order to use dried porcini mushrooms—or any dried mushrooms for that matter—you have to reconstitute them by allowing them to sit in hot water for a few minutes, absorbing that water and plumping up. Then the mushrooms are ready to cook with, and you have all this flavorful liquid as a by-product. By all means, take advantage of it: Here, it works as a flavor booster to the chicken stock; but you can also use it as the base of a wonderful soup or sauce.

If you think stuffed mushrooms are bland, you’ll find these a welcome change of pace: the flavors are quite robust. These are equally good right out of the oven or at room temperature, and they make a nice hors d’oeuvre option for non-meat-eaters.

Using prewashed spinach and presliced mushrooms makes preparation of an easy entrée even easier. Serve this stir-fry over hot brown rice to add a whole grain to your meal.

It takes only a few minutes to make this out-of-this-world steak sandwich. Smoked paprika is what adds the “ultimate” to this dish.

For dinner in a flash, start with the very thin slices of lean beef known as minute steaks. It does take more than a minute to cook them—but not much!

Cubes of beef are browned and simmered with colorful vegetables and thin noodles in this tasty, soupy Asian stew.

Nothing brings out the flavor of fresh asparagus better than lemon. Here the two combine with whole-grain bow-tie pasta, mushrooms, and chicken chunks for a delightful one-dish meal.

Mushrooms and chiles are covered with cheese that’s been fired with jalapeño, then wrapped in a warm tortilla to make a rich and creamy—and slightly messy—Tex-Mex treat.

Nutritious brown rice enhances the flavor and texture of this scrumptious two-cheese pie. Try it for dinner or brunch.

Shrimp Marsala has it all—savory aroma, the rich flavors of wine and mushrooms, and company-pretty looks. A baked potato and steamed asparagus go well with this dish.