Portobello Mushrooms in Sherry5 (1)
This is one of those mind-blowing dishes we ate probably about 12 years ago now. It was a dish we ate at an institutional Spanish restaurant in Melbourne, Australia by the name of Movida. At that time there weren’t copious amounts of good Spanish restaurants in Melbourne so when you wanted to treat yourself to an amazing, authentic Spanish meal – Movida was the place to go. This is the restaurant where we ate these amazing Portobello Mushrooms in Sherry. The chef uses the famous Pedro Ximenez sherry
Pedro Ximenez is the darkest and richest of all sherries produced by the famous Jerez region in southern Spain. It is a sherry best drunk as a digestif after a meal. It has a brilliant, rich, raisin taste with a thick consistency not dis-similar to motor oil (in a good way!). It completely coats your palette and is an absolute treat to drink
The idea of pairing Pedro Ximenez Sherry with Mushrooms is a stroke of genius, and surprisingly quite simple to prepare at home. Portobello Mushrooms are the Mushroom of choice for this dish given their very hearty and stand up well to the strength of the sherry. When finished this dish looks stunning and is super delicious so give it a try!
How to make Portobello Mushrooms in Sherry
The flavor these Mushrooms deliver is immense, and that is for good reason. We’re not only adding one big flavor to the dish (being Pedro Ximenez Sherry), but two! The second flavor we add, is actually the first in the cooking process and that is, of course, Butter. It just wouldn’t be a Mushroom dish without their all-time best friend Butter!
Kicking off the dish, cut the Mushrooms into relatively large chunks. The Mushrooms are filled with a load of liquid, so when they cook all that liquid will disappear. So, you want them pretty meaty before we start to cook. Our objective for this dish is to replace all the moisture inside the Mushrooms with Sherry and Butter
Heat a Saucepan over medium heat and then add the Butter. Be generous with the Butter for this recipe, this is no time to be bashful. You can add about 1 tbsp. of Butter for 2 cups of chopped Mushrooms. If you’re mad about butter you can probably add a bit more. The Mushrooms will easily drink it all up
Once the butter has melted it’s time to add the Mushrooms. Stir them around immediately once they hit the pan and you’ll notice that Butter will almost instantly disappear. It hasn’t gone anywhere, just into the Mushrooms themselves
Continue cooking the Mushrooms to reduce their water before adding the Sherry
Cook the Mushrooms for about 2 – 3 minutes until their juices start to evaporate from the plate. It is best to continue cooking until the liquid has evaporated from the saucepan before adding the Sherry. So, just keep your eye on the pan. Once it’s dry, it is time to add the Sherry
Pour the sherry in and again, mix the Mushrooms around immediately to ensure they absorb all that lovely Sherry. You can drop the heat a little bit at this stage as we cook down the Mushrooms in the sherry. This process takes about 8 – 10 minutes. The Mushrooms will begin to caramelize and turn a very dark, almost black color
Alternative Fortified Wine that is suitable to use
This dish is best flavored with a stronger, wine based digestif. Some other suitable alternatives to Pedro Ximenez are Port or Madeira. Both have quite a strong, raisin-like flavor that concentrates immensely when cooked down. The Mushrooms absorb all that lovely, concentrated flavor so it’s worth giving a couple of different liqueurs a try and see which combination best works for you
Portobello Mushrooms are ideal for absorbing the wine during this pan-fried cooking process
We personally prefer Portobello Mushrooms for this process. They are extremely robust mushrooms, hearty enough to handle the high temperature cooking with these heavy liqueurs. You can also use Button / Brown / Cremini Mushrooms and they will work out great as well
The challenge for using these smaller mushrooms is not cutting them too thin. You want to have quite a meaty piece of Mushroom, otherwise the Pedro Ximenez will just completely overwhelm the dish. The goal is to still have some of that beautiful, natural flavor of the Mushroom coming though in the dish
Why not give these lovely Portobello Mushrooms in Sherry a go today and let us know in the comments below what you think?
Recipe Details
2 – 4 people
5 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
Portobello Mushrooms in Sherry Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Large Portobello Mushrooms, Sliced
- ½ cup Pedro Ximenez Sherry
- 1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp. Salt
Instructions
- Melt the Butter in a large pan over medium heat then add the Mushrooms. Stir well to cover the Mushrooms in the Butter
- After 2 minutes or so once the Mushroom liquid begins to cover the pan, add the Pedro Ximenez Sherry. Stir will then reduce the heat to a medium / low
- Continue to cook for a further 10 minutes until the Sherry has completely absorbed and the Mushrooms are a brilliant dark color, almost black in appearance
- Remove from heat, finish with some flakey salt, and serve immediately
These Mushrooms are a treat and not something you want to be eating all the time. You can if you want, but they are so rich and decadent they’re best saved for a special eating occasion!
The Mushrooms pair wonderfully with Chicken and Beef. So, we’d recommend trying these mushrooms as a side dish alongside some of these great Recipes
We hope you enjoy cooking these amazing Portobello Mushrooms in Sherry and Happy Cooking!
