Julie Bove > wrote:
: I am making tuna casserole tonight and I can't believe I didn't hit on this
: earlier. We can't use prepared cream of mushroom soup because of the cream
: in it and usually wheat. So I make my own with rice milk and I was using a
: gluten free flour. Somehow I hit on the idea of powdering the dried
: mushrooms that I use. Angela likes the flavor of them but not the texture.
: When made to a powder (using the Magic Bullet), she eats them with no
: complaints. Now I do add some fresh mushrooms to this, but I chop them
: finely in the Magic Bullet. No complaints about that either.

: Anyway... I noticed when I made this, the powdered mushrooms were
: thickening the sauce way too much and I'd have to add more rice milk. I'd
: wind up with way too much sauce and would then just make two casseroles.
: But I didn't want to do this. I only wanted enough for the one meal, plus
: maybe one leftover portion for Angela's lunch the following day.

: So I got to thinking... What if I left out the flour and used just the
: mushrooms? Well, it worked! It worked just a little too well. I still had
: to add a little rice milk to thin down the mix. I started with about 2 cups
: of milk (I didn't measure) and enough mushrooms to loosely fill my Magic
: Bullet.

: Now I must add the mushrooms I used come from Costco. They are in a huge
: plastic jar for about $10. They do not look like the shriveled up dried
: things you get in a tiny plastic packet from the grocery store. So those
: might not work in the same manner. Also, the Costco mushrooms require much
: less soaking time than the ones you get at the grocery store. Actually I
: used to dehydrate my own fresh ones at a low temp and the resulting slices
: look like the ones I get from Costco.

: I find that the powdered mushrooms add a really intense mushroom flavor to
: the dish. I should think these would be good in any gravies or sauces where
: you want (or don't mind) a mushroom flavor. And they are low in carbs!

Jeff Nathan, a NYC restaurant owner and chef uses powdered dry porcini
mushrooms to bread fish or chicken in some recipes.

Wendy