The Infamous Burgundy Mushrooms

I started my Christmas vacation on December 19th which let me stay home, clean, do a million loads of laundry, finish my Christmas shopping and start cooking again. I also started watching daytime TV and I was quite disappointed there are so many waste-of-my-time talk shows, dumb reality shows and the Food Network just seems to run the same "Cupcake Wars" or "Chopped" episodes. I was really getting pissed off when I stumbled upon a show I've never seen before called, "The Pioneer Woman" on the food network. The Pioneer Woman, a.k.a. Ree, was cooking like a half a cow, a gazillion cinnamon rolls and she made this Burgundy mushroom recipe. After I saw it and she mentioned that it takes 9 hours...yes, NINE HOURS, to make, I was intrigued. "This I can make!" I told myself. "Bring on the mushrooms!"

Let me just say that the 9 hours are worth the wait. What I did is I measured all my ingredients the night before and had stuff ready to go in the fridge, so that way I woke up at 5am the next morning and just dropped everything in the pot and let it simmer. Also, I wanted to use my Crock-Pot® for this but my crock pot is like from 1984 and it's not big enough to fit the 4 pounds of mushrooms and the liter of wine. But I don't see why you can't make this recipe on one of those new, huge, beautiful Crock-Pots I drool over whenever I'm over at Williams Sonoma.

These mushrooms make a great side dish, or just serve them as an appetizer, but if you let them cool, you can use them in a salad or as your main dish because once you taste these mushrooms you will think you're eating meat...seriously!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pounds White Button Mushrooms
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 liter Burgundy Wine (other Reds Will Work)
• 1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 2 cups Boiling Water
• 4 whole Chicken Bouillon Cubes
• 4 whole Beef Bouillon Cubes
• 1 teaspoon Dill Seed
• 5 cloves Garlic, Peeled

DIRECTIONS

Thoroughly wash the mushrooms and throw them into a large stockpot. Add all the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for six hours.

Remove the lid, then continue cooking, uncovered, for three hours.

The mushrooms will be very dark in color. Simmer until needed. Server straight from the pot or in a serving bowl. Dip crusty bread in the juice!