Roasted Mushrooms

I usually feature main dishes or, often, one-pan meals on this blog, but easy side dishes that allow you to focus on the main dish are an important part of a cook's repertoire. I've been making some version of these marinated, roasted mushrooms for several years. The dark/light soy combination is one I use quite often and one that complements mushrooms well. The long roasting time gives the mushrooms ample opportunity sweat out liquid, concentrating the flavor, a technique I owe to Kenji. I reserved the liquid and added it to a particularly tasty batch of braised chicken and mushroom pasta a few days later.

I usually use cremini mushrooms for this dish, but you could really use any kind. In researching this post, I discovered the three types of mushroom you typically see at the supermarket (around here, anyway) are actually all the same mushroom. White/button mushrooms are at the most immature stage. As they grow, they turn brown and become cremini mushrooms, sometimes called "baby bellas." The most mature mushrooms are the much larger portobellos. I generally find the creminis have more flavor than the white mushrooms.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb. cremini (baby bella) mushrooms
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 Tbs dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbs light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• Black pepper to taste

Instructions

Rinse the mushrooms, trim stems, and cut into quarters. In a large baking dish, combine mushrooms with oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, oregano, rosemary, and black pepper. Toss to coat the mushrooms. Turn on the oven to 400 F. Let the mushrooms marinate while the oven comes to temperature.

Bake for 30 minutes. After this, the mushrooms will have released a lot of water. Drain the liquid from the dish and reserve for another use. Bake for about 20 more minutes and serve.