Porcini and Bacon Sauce

    

     

Picture Homer Simpson saying "Mmmmm, doughnuts..."  Actually, that's more the sound you will make when you have this sauce.  Really, the picture should be of you tasting this sauce, sneaking it from the gravy boat, putting a dab of it behind your ears, filling the tub with it and swimming around slurping it up.  This sauce is that good.  It is not a heavy roux based gravy.  It is not a light sauce per se, but it is so savory, so sublime, so simply...unctuous.  Like all truly good things, it starts with rendered bacon.  It includes reduced wine, it includes more garlic than you would imagine.  Two kinds of broth, two kinds of mushrooms, but really it is not complicated.  It just requires a little patience to simmer down all that goodness into greatness.  That's ok, because I serve it with a Christmas roast, so there is time while that roasts.  Indeed, this is my Christmas menu every year: a standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding style popovers, green beans, and this sauce.  It comes from Bon Appetit, December 2005.  I am sharing this secret with you, only because I know that at the end of the meal, when you volunteer to clear the table, when it is just you in the kitchen, you will secretly sneak a last mouthful of this sauce straight from the gravy boat.  It is Christmas after all...Makes 2 cups.

Ingredients:

2 oz dried porcini mushrooms 

2 cups boiling water

1/4 lb sliced bacon, chopped

9 garlic cloves, minced

2 shallots, thinly sliced 

1 lb button mushrooms, sliced

3 cups dry red wine

4 cups low-salt chicken broth

1 cup beef broth

1 large fresh rosemary sprig

4 tbsp butter, diced

Directions:

Place the dried mushrooms in the boiling water and soak for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large saute pan over medium heat until golden.  Add the garlic and shallots and cook another 3 minutes.  Add the fresh mushrooms, stir, and cook for 8 minutes.  Transfer half of the mushroom mixture to a bowl and reserve.  Strain the porcini mushrooms, saving the liquid, and add the drained mushrooms and wine to the pan.  Boil for 15 minutes and then mix in the broths.  Add the porcini liquid minus any sediment, bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer until reduced to 5 cups, about an hour or more.  At this point, add the sprig of rosemary and simmer for 5 more minutes.  If preparing for a roast, after the roast is done and removed, pour off the fat from the roasting pan and place on the stove top over a hot burner.  Add the mushroom sauce to the pan and scrape up the browned bits, stirring them in to mix.  Strain the mixture back into the saute pan, pressing  out all liquid.  Simmer until reduced to 2 cups, about 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat, mix in the butter and the reserved mushrooms and bacon.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve.