Frugal Mama: Porcini Powder

See the snow in the background? Our first of the year 🙂

I’ve been wanting to buy a bottle of porcini powder for awhile now, but the only place where I was positive I’d find it was Whole Foods, and the nearest one to me is about 45 minutes away. So I kept waiting. Until it dawned on me that I might be able to make my own.

A little googling confirmed that the only ingredient in porcini powder is dried porcini mushrooms. No sense in paying $36 a lb for someone else to grind up those porcinis for me!

I picked up a package of dried porcinis Saturday and decided to make the powder today. I wanted to make chicken marsala with browned-butter/Mizithra pasta for lunch, and thought porcini powder would season the chicken nicely … and, oh how it did! I’ll post that recipe next.

I can already tell this is going to be a great addition to my spice cabinet. I envision sprinkling some in soups and stews, and rubbing some on ribeye steaks before grilling. I’m also getting a little antsy to start making my own pasta (I have the maker, just haven’t had the time), and I think a little of this mixed into the pasta dough would make the flavor incredible.

I dropped a few of the dried mushrooms into the Mr. Coffee grinder we bought waaaayyy back when we got our first espresso machine … back before cell phones, and CDs and DVDs and even the internet. I’m pretty sure we’ve had that coffee grinder for more than 20 years. Maybe closer to 25. And it has served me well not only with espresso beans, but also whenever I needed to grind spices to make Chai tea mix. The last year or so, I’ve noticed Mr. Coffee slowing down a bit. Had to hold the plug in and jiggle it from time to time to keep him going. But today, sadly, he gave a last gasp during my first batch of porcinis. Luckily, my VitaMix was only 18 inches away and finished the job quickly. Still … rest in peace, Mr. Coffee.