The Mushroom Medley | An Interview + Recipe with Chris Najmola

Palmetto Bella Staff

May 8, 2021

From the Kitchen of… Fuse Aiken: The Mushroom Medley – An Interview + Recipe with Chris Najmola

You will need:

8 oz. assorted mushrooms — we recommend using
Circular Farms to keep it local
2 oz. heavy whipping cream
2 oz. high quality soy sauce
1 oz. vegetable oil
a bottle of your favorite red wine
a sauté pan
some crusty bread to sop up the sauce, or a steak to top — honestly, everyone tells us you could put it over anything

This is how we do it (like the song):

Start off by getting your sauté pan nice and hot. I think it’s important that nothing hits a pan, not even oil, until the pan is hot — we’re talking about 7 out of 10 on the dial.

Once your pan is hot, add the oil, followed immediately by your mushrooms. As they brown, open your bottle of wine.

When you find that the mushrooms have been caramelized enough, it’s time to deglaze the pan. I usually find that I use the amount of wine from the top of the bottle down to the label. Or a glass. And here’s the fun part — now you get to drink the rest of the wine! And it will pair perfectly with your dish since it’s the actual wine you used.

Now add the cream and the soy sauce, and allow it to reduce until it’s a nice thick caramel color. It should be thick enough to stand up on a plate.

Last but not least, grab that crusty bread and begin to enjoy. Or put it over a steak, or chicken, or anything else you can think of.

One more little secret from our kitchen to yours — hope you enjoy!

How did this recipe begin?

This recipe has been a staple at Fuse since our first location in Augusta. It was created by the original chef/owner Eric Draper, but it is extremely similar to what I used to make for my wife back when I really started learning how to cook. We called it wine dinner. I would take some mushrooms, a bottle of red wine, a little cream, and a little soy sauce, and make a beautiful sauce that we would use to top the steak portion of our dinner. It melted my wife’s heart and has intoxicated many of our guests at the restaurant ever since.

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Palmetto Bella Staff

Staff writer for Palmetto Bella Magazine

Palmetto Bella Staff

Staff writer for Palmetto Bella Magazine

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