A really quick, easy, but amazing way to cook you some shrooms

Ok, I adore mushrooms. Short of my friend John Lange, I think I love them more than anyone else I know. So earthy, so versatile, to use some obnoxious chef terminology so full of umami (it's the japanese word for the extra taste sensation of savory). There are countless ways to cook/use them, but I thought I'd just throw out a really tasty, really easy way to do so, especially if you are doing some entertaining. It has great flavor, and makes for a really nice presentation...............what we are talking about is "en papilotte". Sounds fancy? Really it just means baked in parchment paper.

First, prep the parchment.

Basically, you just need to cut a big heart out of the parchment paper. After loading in all of your mushrooms and other items on one side, fold the other side over the top & starting at the bottome or tip of the overall heart, tightly roll the bottom lip over the top lip, until you have a nicely sealed oval shaped packet full of shrooms. This is just then popped into the oven for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees, then when you are ready to serve, pop it onto whatever plate you want to present on, tear a hole in the top, and voila, perfectly roasted mushrooms all with a little sauce in the bottom of the paper for all to enjoy, an people will think you a properly trained french chef, schooled in the techniques used by the masters, such a Larouse, or Pepin.

Anyway, enough of that, I guess I should include a recipe in this ramble.

1 lb of assorted, or not assorted mushrooms

**Just buy what looks best freshest at the market, but mushrooms with a little more body work best, such as the above pictured chantrelle or porcini, but crimini, hedgehog, even buttons all work

1 tblsp fresh chopped thyme

1 tblsp fresh chopped rosemary

1 tsp fresh chopped oregano

3 tlbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tlbsp butter, cold, cut into 5-6 pieces

1 tsp salt

1 tsp fresh black pepper

1 clove garlic, sliced thin
Optional - 1 tsp chili flake

Cut mushrooms into similarly sized pieces, especially if using multiple types. If just using crimini, not really necessary, but if you have large porcini, you will want to break them down a bit. Just make sure to leave them in pretty good sized pieces to be able to have a good, meaty texture at the end. Toss all ingredients together, except for the butter, and let marinate for ten minutes. Then, pile into parchment, as described above, top with the slices of butter, then seal the parchment, as described above, and roast and serve, once again, as described above. Dead easy, can be prepped ahead of time, and is absolutely wonderful.

As always, some ponderables..

"Every mushroom is edible.........once"

--ANON--

"One can only imagine the amount of mushrooms a sane person would have to eat to be convinced that a frisbee is a fearsome threat"

--Gary Lewis--

"Love is like a mushroom....you never know if it's the real thing until your already commited"

--ANON--