Sherried Mushrooms with Manchego Cheese
I was first introduced to the incredible combination of dry sherry and mushrooms while visiting a friend in southern Pennsylvania back when I was in culinary school. We stopped at a roadside stand that was selling mushrooms, took them to his house and cooked them up that evening. As a naive kid from Minnesota, I had never even heard of Sherry, or any fortified wine for that matter. Needless to say, I was a huge fan after that meal.
This is one of the recipes we create on my foodie trip to the Catalonia region of Spain. I like to serve it in a Spanish “cazuela” (as in the photo) which is a shallow unglazed earthenware dish that the Spanish often use in their cuisine, probably most notably recognized in Crema Catalana, or Spanish Flan.
Jamón is a Spanish dry-cured ham and is rather difficult to come by in some parts of the US. You can substitute Prosciutto which is a dry-cured ham from Italy and is similar to Jamón, and much easier to find. Ask for a 1/4-inch thick slice from a deli (they will give you a funny look since they are only used to slicing it paper thin) and take it home and dice it.
Manchego cheese is made from Sheep’s milk and is one of the most common cheeses found across Spain. Manchego is easily identifiable with it’s brown cross-hatch stamped rind and comes from the La Mancha region, which is an arid Plateau in south-central Spain.
Sherried Mushrooms with Manchego Cheese
Course: AppetizersCuisine: SpanishDifficulty: Easy2
servings10
minutes10
minutesIngredients
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 pounds small button mushrooms, cleaned
1/2 cup dry sherry wine
1/2 cup small-diced Jamón ham (or other dry-cured ham like Prosciutto)
1/2 cup of 1/2-inch diced Manchego cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
toasted bread (baguette crostinis)
Directions
- Melt the butter in a large sauté pan, set over high heat.
- Add the mushrooms to the hot pan and toss the mushrooms for 3 minutes, lightly browning them on all sides.
- Deglaze the pan with the dry sherry wine and reduce it until it is mostly gone.
- Add the diced Jamón (ham), stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add the Manchego, stir for 30 seconds and stir in the parsley.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve with toasted bread.