Recipe By Joe Scrizzi

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been challenging myself to use up leftovers from the past week vs throw food out. With the high costs of food as of late, I’ve been cooking a lot more at home vs dining out, as they say every penny counts! I have several friends that will only eat something once and throw out the rest. I disagree with this, as more meals can be made from the leftovers. I’ve splurged over the years and at times I must be frugal. So, I thought I’d share my experiments with all of you!

Picked up mushrooms 2 weeks ago to cook down with some onions for open faced beef sandwiches, however never got around to making them. Days went by and I saw the mushrooms starting to turn. The plastic film on top of the package got torn as I was shifting stuff around. I needed to make something quick, as these delicate veggies wouldn’t last long. Thinking back to my early days of working in local kitchens fresh from Culinary School, after working at Hess’s Patio Restaurant, I took a job with M. W. Wood (now Sodexo Catering) and was placed in various companies that catered foods to the employees. My manager at that time asked me to make a soup with what we had available in the pantry, which wasn’t much. We didn’t have the internet back then, so I winged it and created a Mushroom Herbed Broth, which was changed to Mushroom Consommé.

Mushroom Consommé

1# fresh button mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed, sliced thin

1 shallot, sliced thinly

1+ T. olive oil, divided

1 to 2 quarts beef stock (homemade veggie stock be substituted)

Fresh parsley, chopped, garnish

Salt & Pepper

Add 1 T olive oil to stock pot and sliced shallots. Sauté until soft. Add mushrooms and another T. of olive oil to pot. Cook on low until mushrooms have reduced by half. Add beef stock, bring to a slight simmer, do not boil. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until heated through.

Ladle into bowls, top with fresh parsley.

Bon Appetite’

Chefs Notes:

This recipe can easily be doubled or even use different styles of mushrooms. Mix it up. Shallots are preferred to use, as they impart a very light onion flavor, as not to overpower the stock. For this recipe I only used 1 qt of beef stock. The mushrooms can be chopped to cut cooking time down. Adding 1 clove of minced garlic will elevate the taste profile, if desired.