Wild Mushroom Sauce

A recipe that my Grandmother and Mom made for Christmas Eve dinner for the Pyrohy, Vareniki, Pierogi or dumplings was wild mushroom sauce.  

My grandmother mushroom sauce was dairy less, achieving the golden color by browning the flour, which my Aunt Marion still does.   

My Mom's sauce was milk based resulting in a creamy color.

This recipe is a modification of both recipes.

Traditionally dried wild mushrooms were the mushrooms for this dish

Although, my husband and I joined the Alberta Mycological Society to hunt Morels this spring in the Porcupine Hills, only to return with one member finding one morel.  I don't think I can convince my husband to go with me again, not only is this a very rugged terrain, the thought of it being the most populated area of grizzlies was not assuring.

At our Crossroad market, I bought a small basket for eight bucks and dried them for this dish.

The water from hydrating the morel was used as the liquid in the sauce. 

A mixed of fresh mushroom; Portobello ,Oyster, Brown and White mushrooms  along with hydrated morels were sautéed in Olive oil.   Then baked in a hot oven until golden brown. A small onion was finely chopped and sautéed until onions were soften. 

I made a roux using three tablespoons of butter and flour. This I do in the microwave, melt the butter first, add the flour and then whisk in the hot liquid. The easiest way to make a white sauce that I learned from taking microwave classes offered when one bought a Panasonic Microwave in the eighties!  Madame Benoit was the author of the cookbook used by Panasonic for the classes!

To the sauce, I added 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce, dash of Cayenne Sauce, freshly ground pepper, minced garlic and fresh thyme. 

Yes, it's December and this Thyme came from my garden, poking out of the snow!

The mushrooms were added to the sauce.  The finishing touch is cream which I will add in when preparing the dishes on Christmas Eve.

This is as delicious as it looks!