Soz Grzybowy (Polish Mushroom Sauce)
Prep: 15 Minutes | Cook: 30 Minutes | Resting Time: N/A | Total: 45 mins
Makes 12 Servings
Ingredients
2 10oz Packages Mushrooms (white, baby bella, etc.)
1 tbsp Butter
1 Onion, diced
3 Cloves Garlic, diced
½ cup Heavy Cream
1 cup (Vegetable/Mushroom) Stock or Water + 1-2 tbsp water
2 tbsp Flour
1 tbsp Salt
Optional: 1 tbsp Mushroom Powder or 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms, chopped
Recipe Summary
Prepare ingredients - Dice mushrooms, onion, garlic. Slice mushrooms.
Saute diced mushrooms, onions, garlic. Saute sliced mushrooms.
In a pot add sauteed vegetables and add stock. Simmer for 25-30 minutes to reduce sauce
Add cream, and flour to thicken the sauce. Serve warm
Recipe
Wash mushrooms to remove all the surface dirt. Wipe dry with a paper towel or allow to drain in a colander
Slice 1.5 packages of mushrooms and dice the other .5 package of mushrooms
On low-medium heat melt butter in a pan and add onions. Allow to get fragrant (~5 mins) and then add diced mushrooms. Once the mushrooms turn brown, add garlic and cook until garlic starts to turn light brown. Add sliced mushrooms and allow them to turn brown. Stir occasionally to ensure that all mushrooms are cooking evenly.
Once mushrooms have turned brown and have lost a majority of their volume (~10 mins), add water to the pan. Add cold cream slowly to the pan while stirring frequently.
In a small bowl add 1-2 tbsp water to flour and mix to create a slurry. Add the slurry to the sauce and reduce heat to a simmer to allow the sauce to thicken. Serve sauce warm.
Why the Recipe Works
Sauteeing the aromatics (onions, garlic) brings out their natural sugars and creates a lot of additional flavor. Sauteeing the mushrooms in butter also makes them more tender and brings out earthy flavors.
Using both diced and minced mushrooms allows for various textures in the sauce. Diced mushrooms will melt in the sauce, but the sliced mushrooms will remain and give some physical pieces to bite into in the sauce.
Flour will thicken the sauce when heated. The starch molecules will expand in the sauce which will cause the sauce to thicken.
Heavy cream gives an additional richness to the sauce and balances the earthy flavors of the mushrooms and the natural sweetness of the sauteed onions.