Recipe from Rich Torrisi
Adapted by Mark Bittman
- Total Time
- About 1 hour, plus 12 or more hours refrigeration time
- Rating
- 4(216)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Rich Torrisi developed this intense and terrific recipe for the menu at Dirty French, one of a number of chic restaurants in downtown Manhattan that he runs with Mario Carbone. It is on one hand a simple dish: thin-sliced mushrooms layered with butter and salt, then pressed and chilled until they resemble the French dessert known as mille-feuille, or "thousand leaves." Sautéing a slice of the resulting loaf in a hot pan, and then pairing it with a lovely coulis of fresh tomatoes and herbs? That elevates it to the divine. —Mark Bittman
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Ingredients
Yield:12 to 14 servings
- 3pounds king trumpet mushrooms
- 3sticks unsalted butter (1½ cups, or ¾ pound), melted
- 1pound good yellow tomatoes
- 1¼cups extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for searing
- Champagne vinegar to taste
- Sugar to taste
- Assorted herbs like parsley, oregano, marjoram, basil, sage and savory
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Heat oven to 350. Slice mushrooms on a mandoline lengthwise, as thinly as is practical. Brush the inside of a 4½-inch-by-8½-inch nonstick loaf pan with some melted butter; line with parchment paper cut to fit the bottom of the pan. Layer the mushrooms in the pan, salting and spooning on a tablespoon or 2 of butter on each layer. Stack mushroom slices to about an inch above the pan’s top. Brush the inside of a piece of aluminum foil with melted butter, and wrap the mushrooms and the pan tightly.
Step
2
Place the loaf pan on a larger baking dish or rimmed sheet pan to catch any liquid that may bubble over. Place the pan in the preheated oven, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted in the mushrooms meets almost no resistance. Remove the aluminum foil, and continue to bake for 15 minutes, or until the top is browned.
Step
3
Remove the pan from the oven, and unwrap; pour off excess liquid. Place a piece of parchment paper and a second loaf pan on top, weighing it with cans of beans or bricks, at least 10 pounds of weight. Keep the outer baking dish underneath to collect overflow. Cool for 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.
Step
4
The next day, remove the loaf from the refrigerator, and take off the weights. Invert the loaf onto a rack lined with paper towels. You may have to break the butter seal with a knife so the mille-feuille releases, or even rub the bottom of the pan with a hot, wet cloth. Drain on the paper towels until ready to cook.
Step
5
Make the sauce: Cut the tomatoes into 2-to-3-inch wedges, and place in a blender. Blend on high speed until smooth; turn the blender to low, and slowly pour in the olive oil. Add salt, vinegar and sugar as needed. Do not strain.
Step
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Transfer the loaf to a cutting board, and carefully slice ¾-inch pieces with a serrated knife. Sear each piece in olive oil over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan. Cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side.
Step
7
Spoon some of the sauce onto each plate, and top with a slice of mushroom mille-feuille. Garnish with the herbs (if using sage or savory, fry it in olive oil). Sprinkle with salt, then serve.
Ratings
4
out of 5
216
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Cooking Notes
ESK
Notes from Halfway In (by Semi-Broke Not Especially Clever Cook). King Trumpets cost $22/lb. I bought 6 portabellos caps instead. Sorry Wealthy but Very Clever Mark Bittman. Mandolin worked pretty well. I got nice slices for the first 1/3 of each cap. Got slivery (slivery, not slippery, not silvery) bits for the second 1/3. Got chunks for the last 1/3 when the mushroom sort of dissolved. Threw them in the loaf pan anyway. 6 caps just filled pan. Mushrooms are roasting now... We shall see...
dk
Any chance that the preparation can be shown in Video esp the 10 pound weights used ? The description suggests a Wallenda style stack of cans.
renee
Is there another kind of mushroom that would work? Are portabello too meaty for this?
Vince
$2-4 a pound at major asian grocery stores like 99 Ranch and H mart. If you're paying $24 a pound you're buying them at the right store. They're some of the easiest shrooms to commercially farm.
Brittania
Check out an Asian grocery store for the mushrooms. I found them for $4/lb labeled as King Oyster.
KWarner
This is of course the real problem. I don't pay $22/lb for BEEF much less a mushroom...and I've had trumpet mushrooms and they are delicious but there is NO way I'm paying $66 to make a mushroom loaf. I may indeed give this a shot with portobellos though so thank you for the tip. I'd love to know how this all turns out.
cnoggs
This was fabulous! Was beautiful and delicious for our vegetable course. Worth the expense and effort. Don’t skimp on the butter and salt with the mushrooms. Used yellow grape tomatoes give it’s late fall here, 1tbs of sugar, 2.5tbs of Modena white vinegar and salted mildly. Herbs were marjoram and parsley. Plates were literally licked.
Luv2cook
Step 2 says to remove the foil; step 3 says to unwrap the pan. What are you unwrapping if you removed the foil?
Maria
This was a disappointment. I fully expected that the NYT photo next to a picture of my dish was going to be a hilarious submission to a Pinterest "Nailed It!" page. But it actually ended up looking pretty good. It didn't match the photo, of course, but it all held together nicely. The problem was that after all the effort involved it was just... bland. A neat stack of buttered mushrooms.
NuevoMexicano
I was thinking the same thing. I can't really get king trumpet mushrooms around here, but I can get regular oyster mushrooms. I think those would work well. They're just smaller.
Portobellos might be good too! A lot less expensive as well, I'm sure.
Diana
Isn't it just easier to use salted butter, and forget about salting your layers of mushrooms? Also, I don't see a calorie count - is there one for this?
Gene L
I’ve eaten this dish at Dirty French and it’s stunning. My first try at home was so-so. Here are some notes for next time... - More salt per layer (don’t be shy)- A little less butter- Pour out all liquid before chilling/compressing- Buy similar size mushrooms, ideally 4-5” long- Pattern the mushrooms as consistently as possible evenly alternating patterns- Cook the mushrooms for longer (at least an hour- Remove from fridge right before cooking- 1/2 cup olive oils for the coulis
NuevoMexicano
Yeah...I'm going to try a veganized version by subbing Earth Balance for the butter.
Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor
Slice in 3/4" pieces, as if you are slicing a loaf of bread. You could certainly try agave nectar. Start with a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar or agave nectar, and go from there.
Annie Stader
I made this and it was beautiful.I think the mushroom bit was lots of work for what the result is, but happy I challenged myself.The real takeaway is the yellow tomato sauce! A true Gestalt! Such a simple recipe that has complex flavor.I put it on everything. I made a very nice Benedict style egg with a portobello instead of English muffin.
Gene L
I’ve eaten this dish at Dirty French and it’s stunning. My first try at home was so-so. Here are some notes for next time... - More salt per layer (don’t be shy)- A little less butter- Pour out all liquid before chilling/compressing- Buy similar size mushrooms, ideally 4-5” long- Pattern the mushrooms as consistently as possible evenly alternating patterns- Cook the mushrooms for longer (at least an hour- Remove from fridge right before cooking- 1/2 cup olive oils for the coulis
Joy Gimbel
Portobellos taste much different and have stronger flavor than this recipe is going for. I’ll follow CCobbs notes and hopefully be licking our plates too, yum.
cnoggs
This was fabulous! Was beautiful and delicious for our vegetable course. Worth the expense and effort. Don’t skimp on the butter and salt with the mushrooms. Used yellow grape tomatoes give it’s late fall here, 1tbs of sugar, 2.5tbs of Modena white vinegar and salted mildly. Herbs were marjoram and parsley. Plates were literally licked.
MELE
I tried a single-serving version of this, and found the flavor absolutely transportative. However I had a lot of difficulty achieving the texture as seen above- when I tried to saute the mushrooms, they were too wet to achieve crispy edges, and since I used varying sizes of mushroom and layered them in a criss-cross pattern, they didn't achieve the same look. Like I said, the flavor was incredible- I added a hint of smoked paprika to the butter, and topped it with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Annie Stader
I made this and it was beautiful.I think the mushroom bit was lots of work for what the result is, but happy I challenged myself.The real takeaway is the yellow tomato sauce! A true Gestalt! Such a simple recipe that has complex flavor.I put it on everything. I made a very nice Benedict style egg with a portobello instead of English muffin.
Jack
I'm on step 6. Puzzled by the 3/4-inch measurement. I suppose you mean that I should separate the sliced and mashed pieces - as seen in the photo. Give us a clue about how much sugar... and do you recommend an alternative to refined sugar? Agave nectar maybe? Bittman always invites innovation, and I very much like that. I'm also wondering what to drink with this.
Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor
Slice in 3/4" pieces, as if you are slicing a loaf of bread. You could certainly try agave nectar. Start with a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar or agave nectar, and go from there.
Brittania
Check out an Asian grocery store for the mushrooms. I found them for $4/lb labeled as King Oyster.
2 Angels Mushroom Farm
Better yet, buy from your local mushroom farmer at your farmers market. You will get a much better quality mushroom, and more of your hard-earned dollar will stay in your local community rather than going to China.
Rick
This recipe looks fantastic, but I would have appreciated some illustrations or a video RE creating the mushroom mille-feuille.
scotch37
I want to try- cause it looks great and am sure even if i butcher it- it will be tasty. but- recipe SO UNCLEAR. parchment only over bottom, or sides/tops as well?
most king shrooms are not 4.5 inches wide. do we Clinton-= double wide the shrooms? do I wrap foil around the whole thing of just the shrroom brick? so badly described. I know the mess will taste good, but we all want it to look like the picture. post a video?
Richard
Not unclear: "line with parchment paper cut to fit the bottom of the pan."
Maria
This was a disappointment. I fully expected that the NYT photo next to a picture of my dish was going to be a hilarious submission to a Pinterest "Nailed It!" page. But it actually ended up looking pretty good. It didn't match the photo, of course, but it all held together nicely. The problem was that after all the effort involved it was just... bland. A neat stack of buttered mushrooms.
Terri
No one answered the question about which direction to layer the slices. The picture is very confusing. It seems that they go across the short side, this seems like it would make it hard to hold together.
Vince
$2-4 a pound at major asian grocery stores like 99 Ranch and H mart. If you're paying $24 a pound you're buying them at the right store. They're some of the easiest shrooms to commercially farm.
Brian
One can get king trumpet mushrooms online for $30 for three pounds, and they are even cheaper at Chinese grocery stores.
Tim
This recipe was a labor of love, but in the end it was really a showstopper. I wish I could have gotten more layers into the baking dish i used. Well worth the effort.
Bill O'Fallon
I made this using portabellos cut as thinly as possible. I couldn't find the king trumpet mushrooms (and I doubt I would have paid $24 a pound for them). And I only made 1/4 of the recipe and yes, it didn't hold together for the slicing.
But --- they were fabulous! This should work with any mushroom, I believe.
Anyone else try the recipe or a variation?
NuevoMexicano
Oyster mushrooms work well. It's just a lot of slicing since they're so small.
Jim Polichak
I haven't tried this yet but I'm thinking a mandoline might work well for portobellos.
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