My favorite secret ingredient

Most of my friends are impossible to feed. Every last one of them hate tomatoes, onions, or mushrooms--or all three. We might just use all three every single meal. For me, each meal typically involves tossing in any or all of said ingredients into the cast iron skillet, then trying to figure out what else will go in and what the end will be like. Maybe an omelet, or ragout, or maybe stuffed dumpling squash. Maybe seared tuna on a bed of mushrooms over salad greens. Little slices of dove breast in a mess of our "holy trinity".

Well, last week I invited the fellas over for a shin-dig. I had acquired a leg of wild venison, and a party was in order. Cigars and pipes were brought out, cold brews passed around, homemade wild salmon spread displayed, freshly baked rosemary sourdough rolls taken out, and old tales told as we slowly roasted the beast all day, slicing off slivers and dipping them in the precious gravy, hour after hour. What a day.

The gravy was made of massive amounts of portabello mushrooms (they reduce down to an amazing liquid) and piles of lovely shallots. That's right, the picture above is a mound of shallots. They also reduce down to a magical sauce, and combined with the portabellos and venison roasting become miraculous. The guys who "gag" at an onion, loved it. The guys who absolutely hate mushrooms, soaked it all up. Chefs the world over long have used the shallot as the magical secret ingredient in their dishes, now you can too.