‘The perfect meat-free main’: Curtis Stone’s creamy polenta with braised mushrooms
This is a soul-soothing dish for the cooler months and the perfect meat-free main. Be sure to buy an assortment of mushrooms in various colours, sizes and shapes.
Polenta, with its slightly coarse texture, acts as the perfect vehicle for the earthy mushrooms and is best served as soon as it’s made.
Ingredients
polenta
750ml (3 cups) full-cream milk
1½ tsp salt
1 cup polenta
45g (½ cup) grated parmesan cheese
110g (½ cup) mascarpone
2 tbsp unsalted butter
mushrooms
60ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
200g Swiss brown mushrooms, quartered
700g assorted mushrooms, such as oyster, maitake and shimeji, trimmed
5 large sprigs fresh thyme
1 large eschalot (French shallot), finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
¾ cup dry white wine
1 cup reduced-salt chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
3 tbsp unsalted butter
Method
Step 1
To cook the polenta, bring the milk, 3 cups of water, and 1½ teaspoons of salt to a gentle simmer in a large heavy saucepan, over medium-high heat. Gradually whisk in the polenta and continue to whisk until mixture comes to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently, whisking often, for 15 minutes, or until polenta has thickened.
Step 2
Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue cooking polenta, stirring often, for 25 minutes, or until polenta is the consistency of loose mashed potatoes and no longer has a starchy taste. Whisk in parmesan, mascarpone and butter. Season with salt.
Step 3
Meanwhile, to cook mushrooms, heat a large frying pan (or two) over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, then add mushrooms and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally but letting mushrooms brown on the bottom each time before stirring, for 15 minutes, or until they are tender.
Step 4
Stir in the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes, or until the shallots soften. Stir in the wine and cook for 1 minute, or until reduced by half. Add stock and parsley and simmer for 4 minutes, or until the sauce reduces slightly. Remove and discard thyme stems. Season with salt and pepper and stir in butter.
Step 5
Divide the polenta among four dinner plates, then top with mushrooms. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.
Tips and tricks
Elevate the flavour
This recipe calls for regular polenta, rather than the quick-cook or instant variety. While cooking polenta in water is standard practice, I elevate my polenta by cooking it in milk to add some depth, and stir in a good amount of parmesan and mascarpone to finish.
Avoid lumpy polenta
Nobody likes a lumpy polenta, but it’s easy to avoid it. Pour polenta into hot liquid gradually, not all at once, and whisk constantly as you do it. The constant whisking will evenly disperse the polenta in the liquid, so it won’t have a chance to clump together.
Never wash mushrooms
Mushrooms, especially wild mushrooms, are like little sponges. They’ll soak up any moisture. If you wash them, they’ll get waterlogged and won’t caramelise properly. Instead, clean them with a damp paper towel or brush them off with a pastry brush.
Not all mushrooms are the same
You don’t always have to slice mushrooms. Button or Swiss brown mushrooms are best quartered. I like to leave smaller shiitakes and shimejis whole, and tear maitake and oyster mushrooms by hand.
Don’t overcrowd the pan
Mushrooms need room in the pan for their juices to evaporate. If you pack them in, they’ll just steam and never caramelise. If you have to cook a large amount of mushrooms, it’s better to cook in multiple pans or in batches.
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Curtis Stone is a Good Food columnist, chef, restaurateur and recipe writer.