It's all about being Fun-gi

We generally make a dish that goes all out for Thanksgiving. Something new and different every year. This year it was the Mushroom Wellington from the New York Times. The recipe is long, complicated and has many multiple part steps. To make it even more fun, my husband decided to make gluten-free rough puff pastry. He later found out it could have bought it.

In the end, we ended up with a delicious wellington that didn't quite get the puff we wanted. I'm blaming that on the gluten-free puff though. It ended up a lot looser than I thought it would have been. Again, blaming the GF puff. A standard puff would have held shape much better.

I then started thinking about how it would be different with a standard puff or a short crust. Then I started thinking smaller. That lead to a realization. I know this recipe. I know it very well. I've taught a class on this recipe.

Le Ménagier De Paris (1393)

CHAMPIGNONS d'une nuit sont les meilleurs, et sont petits et vermeils dedans, clos dessus: et les convient peler, puis laver en eaue chaude et pourboulir; qui en veult mettre en pasté, si y mette de l'uille, du frommage et de la pouldre.

Item, mettez-les entre deux plats sur charbons, et mettez un petit de sel, du frommage et de la pouldre. L'en les treuve en la fin de May et en Juin.

A fancy giant mushroom pastie. That's what I made. Take out the cheese from the 1393 original and add the onions and port wine sauce, and it's a freakin' mushroom pastie. An overly complicated mushroom pastie.

The flavor profile is slightly different given the changes in herbs and spices and the lack of cheese, but overall it's actually pretty close to the original recipe. The portobello in the middle is what makes it a "wellington" as that is the stand in for the beef. Other than that, this recipe could have been made into hand pies. I'd keep the port wine reduction though.