Dreamy Creamed Carrots, Onions and Mushrooms

Submitted by ncmysteryshopper

"Chef Michael Mina's vegetables, served in a cream sauce, may seem completely familiar but pay attention: The carrots are spiked with fresh grated ginger, the onions are made slightly pungent with the addition of horseradish, and the mushrooms are slyly seasoned with garlic and thyme. MAKE AHEAD: The creamed vegetables can be refrigerated overnight and reheated. Recipe is from Michael Mina's Luxurious Christmas Weekend. Chef Michael Mina is of Aqua (CA) and the spectacular Michael Mina restaurant at the St. Francis (CA) and Las Vegas's Michael Mina Bellagio."

 

• Ready In: 4hrs
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 10

ingredients

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 large shallots, sliced (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1⁄2 cups dry white wine
• 1 1⁄2 quarts heavy cream
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 lbs carrots, peeled halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick on the diagonal
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 lbs white pearl onions
• 2 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 lbs mixed mushrooms, such as shiitake, cremini and oyster, stems trimmed and caps thickly sliced
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme

directions

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the shallots and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and cook until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 25 minutes. Add the cream and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat until thickened and reduced to 4 1/2 cups, about 1 1/2 hours. Strain the cream sauce through a fine sieve into a medium bowl, then season with salt and pepper.
2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the carrots and cook over high heat until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in the same saucepan. Add the ginger and cook over moderate heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the carrots and cook, tossing, until coated. Add 1 1/2 cups of the cream sauce and simmer over moderately low heat until the carrots are tender and the sauce is slightly reduced, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover and keep warm. Clean the saucepan.
3. Fill the same saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the onions and cook over high heat until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Trim the root ends and pull off the skins. Return the peeled onions to the saucepan. Add 1 1/2 cups of the cream sauce and the horseradish. Simmer over moderate heat until the sauce is slightly reduced and the onions are tender, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a bowl, cover and keep warm.
4. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a very large, deep skillet. Add the garlic and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned. Add the mushrooms and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is evaporated and the mushrooms are golden, about 15 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of cream sauce, season with salt and pepper and cook until the sauce is slightly reduced and the mushrooms are very tender. Transfer to a bowl. Serve all of the vegetables.

Reviews

[echo echo]

This is very rich, so not something I would make often, but it is an absolutely heavenly impress-the-guests-and-then-some dish. I used the "change size" function to cut the number of servings to 4, but ended up with much more food than that, perhaps even double, especially given how rich it is. On the other hand, if you serve it to guests, they may very well be clamoring for seconds, so maybe that's a good thing.

 

[tara portee]

The taste was superb! The sauce was out of this world, NCmystery shopper said it correctly when she said that the unexpected flavors (ginger, horseradish) really helped make this dish stand out. My reservation about the dish is that it is involved and takes quite a long time to prepare. I cut the recipe by a third and it was enough to serve 4-6.