Making with scraps requires a special creativity. For our recipe you only need mushrooms and cheese. Because when it melts, everyone is happy.
Otherwise, the following always applies: oil is the best flavor carrier there is. But today, melted Taleggio cheese does the trick. Mhhhmmm, but be careful: Please don’t burn your tongue!Jesko to Dohna
I love homemade food. Especially with leftovers. Of course, some collections are just too adventurous. You can forget them. But once cooked, some recipes stay with you forever. I feel the same way about a mushroom dish that I make for myself regularly and that especially my guests want to eat again and again. A friend sometimes picks up the phone and orders a dish for me.
It happened out of necessity a few years ago. Sunday evening I only had a large bag of king oyster mushrooms and a large slice of delicious Taleggio cheese in the fridge. The mushrooms were already brown and a bit dry and the Taleggio was already very dry. So what do you do with these two ingredients? Pasta is always a good idea. There wasn’t even a package of spaghetti in the cupboard. Just plain old white bread crust.
Every week you will find the best and easy recipes for your daily life in our Recipe of the Week section. Alternatives in the column: Felix Hanika and Jesko to DohnaJack Cached for the Berliner Zeitung
So I simply prepared a small gratin of mushrooms and cheese with olive oil, salt and lots of pepper on a large regular pan. Everything was just put under the grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese was nicely browned and slightly browned around the edges. After a few seconds, the smell of melted cheese filled the whole apartment. Then I ate a plate of crackers and a piece of toasted white bread. Heaven!
Jamie Oliver came up with a similar idea to the author’s
And it was a real poem. It’s so good that I’ve been tweaking it ever since. Sometimes I got porcini mushrooms or chanterelles or a combination. I have tried other cheeses. And I experimented with herbs, minced garlic and lemon zest.
Then I saw Jamie Oliver’s almost identical recipe in a cookbook. It includes mushrooms and mozzarella. But it doesn’t help, because both mushrooms and mozzarella contain too much water. Instead of a crispy gratin, you have a sauce on your plate.
It is better to use dry types of mushrooms. King oyster mushrooms are good, shiitake is better, morels are bad. Taleggio is still very reasonable. Gorgonzola is amazing too, I replace it with Taleggio. Brie is just fine, but I think it’s a little too soft. Unfortunately, Parmesan doesn’t work. Gouda cheese? Obstacle. And piece cheese is way on the dark side. But try yourself. Here is my tasty version of the dish:
This is what the whole ensemble looks like before going into the oven. Within 2-3 minutes, this building then transforms into a heavenly fragrance table. They promised!Jesko to Dohna
Recipe: Mushrooms au gratin with Taleggio, pickles and lemon zest
Ingredients: a handful of shiitake mushrooms, a large piece of Taleggio cheese (grated), fresh thyme, 1 lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper, piment d’Espelette.
Preparation: Cut the mushrooms into thin strips or small cubes. Spread them all over a tee (or two). Everything should be spread out nice and shiny, but not as true as carpaccio. Then season everything with salt, plenty of pepper and a pinch of Piment d’Espelette. Then squeeze the rind of a quarter of a lemon over it and drizzle a few drops of olive oil.
And another close-up: the melted cheese crumbles so beautifully!Jesko to Dohna
Then cover everything with cheese cubes, about two centimeters thick. You don’t need to cut the bark (red arrow). That’s what gives it its flavor. Now everything for 2 to 3 minutes at 220 degrees in the oven or under the grill. The cheese should be nicely melted and brown on the sides and top. For once, you don’t need butter this time because melted cheese will do the trick this week. Otherwise, the same applies as always: Lots of fat, lots of fun!
Toasted white bread and of course a glass of white or red wine goes well with this. Your guests will love it and keep coming back. They promised!
PS I would be interested in your opinion and, above all, what version can you imagine? Do you have more questions about our recipes, story ideas or requests or a restaurant tip? Then write to us: food@berliner-zeitung.de