Baby Bella Mushrooms

I love mushrooms, but it hasn't always been this way. For the longest time, I totally hated them and there was nothing on heaven or earth that would move me to put them in my mouth. Until one day, a very good friend invited me over for a barbecue. He was grilling steaks and had made garlic-butter button mushrooms to put on top of them. Since he was such a dear friend, and begged me to try them, after many, many protests: But, Bill, they're so gross!; Are you sure they aren't poisonous?; I won't die from eating them, will I?; There's no way in hell I'm eating them; Where did you find them?; These aren't "magic" mushrooms, are they?; I don't want to eat them, they look slimy; etc., so on and so forth, I thought it only polite to take a teeny, tiny bite just to humor him (and so he'd quit bugging me
to eat the mushrooms).

It was love at first bite -- not him -- the mushrooms. It's a good
thing I was his only guest because I ate almost all of them, with the exception of what he'd already put on his plate (and I did try to take them, surreptitiously, with my fork when he went inside to get me more wine). Poor guy; he didn't realize I could be such a pig, but he forgave me.

Since that time, I can't get enough mushrooms--any kind of mushrooms. I put them in many of my recipes, eat them on their own, and also serve them as an accompaniment (think main part of the meal; big portions) with meat or chicken, or anything else. So, without further ado, here are my favorite mushrooms: Baby Bellas.


The recipe is really easy: Just melt some real butter (4 to 5 tablespoons, maybe more) in a saucepan--or a wok--over medium-high to high heat. Add the mushrooms (I used a 16 oz. container of baby bella mushrooms; grown locally here in Texas,
but any kind of mushrooms will do) and saute until they turn nice
and brown. Add about 5 cloves (more or less to suit your taste) of finely-minced garlic and saute for another minute or two. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley to serve. I've also been known to throw some dried oregano and freshly ground black pepper into the mix.

I'm submitting my Baby Bella recipe to Weekend Wokking, a once-a-month event featuring a secret ingredient, created by Wandering Chopsticks and hosted this month by Palachinka. As you've probably already guessed, the secret ingredient for December was MUSHROOMS. I think you're supposed to make an actual meal, using mushrooms as part of the dish, but I obviously didn't do that because these Baby Bellas are so good on their own.