Make This Zesty Mushroom and Onion Dip for Your Next Party.
Onion sauce is a dangerous thing. He distracts you with his creamy, cool, umami tricks, and before you know it, you’re waking up covered in salt and your partner accusing you of selfishly eating eight ounces of sauce. Well, I have good news and bad news. If you’re a lover of onion sauce, there’s a contender for the most umami-rich sauce, and it’s made with mushroom dussels. The bad news is that this won’t solve your data sharing problems.
The reason this sauce is so damn delicious is because it combines the umami power of onions and tops it off with a big dose of mushrooms. Mushrooms aren’t a typical sauce ingredient, but they make a lot more sense when turned into duxelles. Usually the only time duxelles show up in my kitchen is when I’m making mini beef Wellington dumplings (or when I’m making anything Wellington at all ).
What is duxelles?
Cooking dussels is an easy way to get a hearty and savory component to a dish. Duxelles consists of finely chopped mushrooms, shallots, herbs and garlic, which are fried in a little butter until all the moisture has evaporated and you are left with a very flavorful, concentrated mushroom mixture. It’s not something you’d eat on its own (but you could, and I’d encourage you), but rather a component; it makes other things better. With beef Wellington, you layer the duxelles before adding the tenderloin, and it ends up adding flavor to each slice. But duxelles are such a versatile blend that they shouldn’t be forever honed in on beef Wellington.
How to make dussel sauce with mushrooms
To kickstart your duxelle discovery, why not turn it into a sauce? For this recipe, I prepare duxelles in a relatively traditional way. The only thing I modify is the shallots. I usually use a small shallot per pound of mushrooms, but I substitute half a large sweet onion. I wanted to combine the power of onion sauce with duxelles, so I decided why not caramelize some onions directly into the mixture? Onion sauce is better if it still has more onions .
This recipe is simple, and that’s because creating complex flavors doesn’t mean the method has to be complicated. Once the mushrooms and onions have evaporated all the water (this may take up to 20 minutes), cool the mixture and then mix it with equal parts of the cream cheese and plain yogurt mixture. Add a packet of onion sauce (there’s no shame in using salty seasonings) and stir until smooth.
While you can skip the seasoning packet for the onion sauce and still end up with a decadent duxelle sauce, I love what onions and mushrooms accomplish when they join forces. As with any dry gravy mix, allow at least a few hours for the dry ingredients to rehydrate in the gravy before eating. Use this dream sauce on crackers, chips and pita bread, stir it into an omelet, or add it to hot pasta.
Recipe for Duxelles sauce with mushrooms
Ingredients:
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1 tablespoon olive oil
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3 tablespoons butter
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8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped
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½ large sweet onion, chopped
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1 clove garlic, minced
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¼ teaspoon salt
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1 sprig thyme
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4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
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½ cup plain yogurt
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½ ounce packet dry onion sauce
1. Add oil and butter to a large skillet and melt over medium-low heat. Add minced mushrooms, onions and garlic along with salt. Stir and cook the mushrooms until the water comes out. Add thyme. Continue cooking until the mixture has reduced in size and the water has evaporated. Set it aside to cool. Discard the thyme sprig.
2. Combine cream cheese and yogurt in a large bowl. Add the mushroom dussels and dry onion seasoning packet. Stir it all together. This sauce is quite thick, so if you want it thinner, add more yogurt. Cover the sauce and refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight until it is completely moistened and set. Serve with chips.