A Magical (Stuffed) Mushroom Story and (Good) Wine Pairing:
Stuffed mushrooms have been a big deal in my immediate family for some moons now. They’re one of my Mom’s early signature appetizer dishes from way back in the day when she was decidedly going in a somewhat more “gourmet” direction (literally inspired by her subscription to Gourmet” magazine lol), a seeming detour* of sorts [pls see HISTORICAL CONTEXT at the end…] from the great family food traditions she’d already inherited from my Grandmother Loretta, a world-class legacy cook. IN FACT her newly signature stuffed mushrooms are what she made the first time she ever cooked for my father (then a mere beau). And as family lore has it , their deliciousness (magically?) sealed the deal for Dear ‘ol Dad to be certain she was indeed THE one.…
[Well, with Valentine’s Day just over a week away, anybody tryna make a good impression on a special somebody else might wanna add this apparently deal-sealing , commitment-making dish to the menu!! Just sayin… ]
So the batch you see here is my relatively recent stab at making a tray or two of these legendary lump crab stuffed mushrooms (topped with shaved Parmesan) that I made for my mama! 💕 … which is always nice to be able to do since as the matriarch in our fam she’s usually the one making her slammin’ signature dishes for all of us when the family’s together , especially during the holidays…
They paired perfectly with a deliciously crisp California Viognier Chenin blend (2 of my Mom’s and now my fave white wine grapes) … this one’s by Pine Ridge (@pineridgewine )— which I originally got hip to all the way back in #Brooklyn #NYC and was delighted to find at the local wineshop in Orange County CA where I made these mushrooms … which were GOOD but honestly i must admit to me hers are better. My plan is to make them WITH her next time
Although Cali’s my family home state and where I moved from (to NYC) a while bacck and it’s where I sojourn to at least annually or more, the BEST California wines I ever have are sourced right here in Bklyn via @goodwinenyc — a neighborhood GEM of a wineshop & a must visit & shop at spot if/when you’re ever in the Slope (#ParkSlope neighborhood of #Brooklyn). Then whenever I’m “back home” i go on mini missions to find the gems there. No small task in suburban Southern California where wine’s sold in grocery stores, drug stores/pharmacies, bulk stores… basically ALL the stores — which are usually flooded with big wine brands thus making the more boutique quality-focused producers “challenging” to find. I might say more about that weird wine reality in a TFG ‘Wine Wisdom ‘blogpost…
( Wine side note: the stuffed ‘shrooms went really well with that #Sancerre you see on the table too …
Yum & Cheers!)
Happy Stuffed Mushroom Day !
HISTORICAL CONTEXT : [*Re: that “detour” I mentioned above: now in hindsight (as a career culinary historian), it turns out that my mother’s galavanting into gourmet territory was not a departure from my ancestral family’s food tradition at all but instead much more of a return , a re-arrival of sorts to a knack for making food fanciness from generations back. Waaay back. Yes, I’m talking way back to the Chesapeake Bay plantation cooks from which we are descended. in both Maryland and Virginia. Those very same cooks and the earliest of authentically American CHEFS who are part of the bigger picture of Black Culinarians at large who begat the development of the finest of dining throughout this nation…. [THIS PART OF THE POST — where i connect so many cultural and culinary dots from past to present — IS available exclusively to MY paid tier PATREON SUPPORTERS ….]
You’ll also have to JOIN one of my PAID PATREON tiers if you want the magic deal-sealin mushroom recipe! (that’s right —the one based on my MOM’s ORIGINAL RECIPE 🧑🏽🍳 🍄 💖)…
SIGN-UP to receive a colorful copy of my newsletter in your inbox ONCE a MONTH. Have a look at the online web browser version of January’s digest HERE..
THIS LINK takes you back to the whole month calendar aerial view to explore more food & drink ‘holidays’