Creamy Madeira Mushrooms Sauce

I cook for my grandparents a couple times a week. Their menu requests range from classic casseroles to short ribs and risotto to recreating something my grandmother loves. This past week my mission was to recreate the sauce from her favorite Cheesecake Factory meal, the Da Vinci Pasta sauce. This is a creamy Madeira sauce with mushrooms and lots of butter and while a few recipe searches came up with some similarities I had a little trouble landing on one to follow.

So I did what I usually do and take the method I need from a recipe and improvise with the flavors and amounts of each ingredient.

Having tasted the sauce I knew what my finished product was aiming for so I set out to make a creamy sauce that Nana could add to pretty much anything she would be eating for the next week or so.

When all was done my improvisations ended up with something that was close and still delicious. It was creamy, you could taste the Madeira wine enough but it wasn’t strong and there were a good amount of earthy mushrooms mingling with the pasta.

This needed up making about 3 mason jars worth of sauce and tasting close enough to the original goal. I added a bit more cream, more mushrooms and more onion than what I saw online and think it turned out pretty good.

Plus, most importantly, it got Nana’s stamp of approval so I know I’ll be making this again in the future. I used a lighter colored Madeira that was “medium dry” and later realized I probably should have used a red one to have the color be closer to the original sauce from Cheesecake Factory but I think the flavor was still there so you can use whatever type of Madeira you find at the market.

What you need:

⁃ Madeira Wine … 1 cup

⁃ Shiitake Mushrooms … 8 medium ones

⁃ Crimini or white mushrooms … 1 package sliced

⁃ Salted Butter … 1 stick

⁃ Heavy cream … 1 pint

⁃ Red Onion … 1 large

⁃ Fresh Garlic … 3 cloves minced

⁃ Flour … 4 tablespoons

⁃ Salt and Pepper

How to make it:

1. Wash all mushrooms thoroughly. Cut up shiitake mushrooms into small pieces and set aside. Both types mushrooms will add an extra layer of flavor.

2. Dice red onion and mince garlic.

3. In a pan, melt two tablespoons of butter and add the chopped red onion.

4. Allow to cook for a few minutes before adding the garlic so the garlic doesn’t burn.

5. Once the onions and garlic are mostly cooked add the mushrooms and allow to cook for about 8 minutes covered and stir occasionally.

6. After the mushrooms are reduced and cooked down, put the mixture into a bowl and set aside.

7. In the same pan you cooked the onions in, melt 4 tablespoons of butter and add the flour slowly to cook the flour and make a roux.

8. Now add cream and combine until smooth and then add the wine.

9. Once all combined, add back the cooked mushroom and onion mixture.

10. Allow everything to simmer for a while for all the flavors to develop.

11. Let cool and jar. Serve over pasta, chicken, steak or anything savory and put the rest into a jar and store for a week in the fridge.

Enjoy!!