A nice way to cook a special dinner for family or company is to grill or roast a simple meat or fish and then fuss a little bit over a vegetable dish to go along with it. I was recently watching an old PBS show about the cuisine at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and while they were talking to one of the chefs there, he was making and describing this dish. Well, sort of this dish—he, of course, was trotting off to an exclusive purveyor of fresh mushrooms and ordering five pounds each of morels, shiitakes and several types of mushrooms that I had never heard of before. And of course the bacon was a select pancetta and the port was a reserve and he served the final dish in individual enameled cast iron casseroles that were rustic and adorable at the same time.
I was certainly inspired by all of his choices and exclusivity, but hey, I have a budget and I’m sticking to it—so I went to my Fresh Market and came up with this version, which does use good quality ingredients, but doesn’t get too crazy. Don’t make this when you’re in a hurry— it is fun to do when you have an hour, easy, but it does have a few steps to it. I will make this over and over and with changes from time to time—shallots or green onions would be nice in this, different mushroom mixtures will change the taste– the bacon could be substituted for frizzled shallots, and in a pinch you could forget the reduction altogether (but it is a nice touch and makes a very pretty glaze for the vegetables).
Green Beans, Grapes and Mushrooms in Port Wine Reduction
Serves 6
Ingredients:
2 slices bacon, chopped
3 ounces dried mushrooms (such as porcini)
8 ounces shiitake or other flavorful mushrooms cleaned and sliced into strips
8 ounces button or crimini mushrooms, cleaned and cut into halves
20 seedless red grapes, washed, dried and halved
½ pound green beans or haricots verts (thin French green beans like the ones I’ve used here)
2 teaspoons butter or olive oil
Port Wine and Mushroom Liquid Reduction (see below)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Preparation:
To reconstitute the dried mushrooms, put them in a glass bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand for 30 minutes while you proceed with the recipe.
In a small skillet, cook the bacon; remove to a paper towel with a slotted spoon and save the rendered fat in the skillet.
In another small skillet, place a teaspoon or two of the bacon fat and cook the shiitake mushrooms until they have released their liquid and are lightly browned. Remove them from the skillet and set aside.
In the same skillet, add another teaspoon or two of the bacon fat and cook the button or crimini mushroom halves until they have released their liquid and are lightly browned. Remove them from the skillet and add them to the shiitake mushrooms.
Bring water to the boil in a medium saucepan, trim the beans and blanch the beans for 2 to 3 minutes until just cooked. Drain and reserve.
Remove the mushrooms from their liquid with a slotted spoon and drain well. Strain the liquid through a coffee filter into a measuring cup and keep 1 cup of the liquid to make the reduction (see below).
Just before serving, heat the butter or olive oil in a medium skillet. Add all three mushrooms, the grapes, and the green beans and heat through. Add the port wine and mushroom reduction and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with the reserved bacon, turn into a serving bowl and serve immediately.
To make the Port wine and Mushroom Liquid Reduction:
In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of Port wine and 1 cup of the reserved mushroom liquid to a boil and cook until reduced to a couple of syrupy spoonfuls. (The reduction can be made ahead of time and reheated just before serving.)
