One of the great joys in life is seeing people you care about (friends, family, students) find their passion and run wild with it. In my life I have had the joy to see my godfather live out his dream of opening a tea shop, my students become famous musicians, hairdressers, and news anchors. There is something about seeing someone live their truth that is amazing to witness.
When Covid hit a dear friend of ours Avery, who admittedly we don’t see as much as we should, found himself on furlough from his job. Well, long story short, he and a few of his friends and loved ones opened a mushroom shop close to where we went to school in Troy, NY. Avery is one of those people who is somehow good at all things…so I had no doubt that he would find success in his newest adventure. Yet, to see this dream evolve from a Go Fund me project to a thriving business has been a true joy. Two weeks ago we packed up for a day trip and headed up to Troy to see him shop and mushroom farm. Taking the tour of his shop and his grow areas was legit some of the coolest stuff I have done in a long time and needless to say this mushroom loving family left with more than a few items!!!
In addition to an amazing collection of fresh mushrooms they also had dehydrated mushrooms which I had never used before. The recipe as I made it was using a lot of the fresh mushrooms I picked up but I also made mushroom risotto a few days later with the dehydrated ones and they were fantastic.
So the first thing is let’s talk about mushrooms! OMG they had such amazing ones. Here is some mushroom porn if you will!
So once you have your mushrooms all set here is what else you will need
-20oz of Potatoes
-1lb mushrooms (I doubled my recipe and used half of the pictured ones and some sliced portabellas from the store
-8oz diced carrots
-One large onion
-2 cloves of garlic
-2oz tomato paste
-4 TBS of sour cream
-Garlic powder to taste
-A few cups veggie broth/stock
-1 cup cheddar cheese
-Flour or cornstarch (1 TBS)
Step One: Dice your potatoes and get them boiling in salted water till tender
Step Two- Chop or tear your mushrooms dry saute them with a big pinch of salt for about five minutes to release the water. Then add some oil the onions and carrots and cook for till carrots are tender. Add your garlic and cook for two more minutes
Step Three-Add the butter to your veggie mix as well as your flour and cook for one minutes. Next a in your tomato paste and broth. Bring this to a boil then simmer for 2-3 minutes. When complete you should have a nice sauce
Step Four-Drain your potatoes and mash and make to your preference. Suggested in the recipe were the sour cream and half the cheddar. We are mashed potato snobs at our house so the cheddar cheese and sour cream were not enough we went all in when making ours.
Step Five-Cover the mushroom mix with the potatoes and then cover with the remaining cheddar. Put under the broiler till its nice and browned.
So it was so damn good and smelled so good I forgot to take the picture before I served it! Even my mom who hates mushrooms ate almost her entire portion. As our goal of living a more sustainable life moves forward we know that we need to cut back on our meat consumption and knowing I have recipes like this is my back pocket make that goal seem a bit more acheiveable
Now please promise if you are even in the Albany NY area you will make a point to stop by and see our dear friend Avery and pick up some of the most amazing mushrooms. If you get a chance go check out his website or follow him on facebook!
**Please note the original recipe was found at Collar City Mushrooms***
Hunt Family Homestead 