Creamed Mushrooms with Chives

I found the perfect recipe for all those mushrooms. It was from the big yellow Gourmet cookbook, the one I talked you out of asking Grandma for. Very few things I've made from that book have been as good as I think they should be. It's got design flaws -- the recipe titles are printed in pale yellow on white paper, so they're really hard to read -- and is huge but not authoritative; it's just a bunch of recipes, not a reference book. But tonight's recipe was pretty wonderful, so it's partially redeemed.

Here's my version of Creamed Mushrooms with Chives, adapted for two people and the stuff I had on hand:

- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 2 tablespoons butter

Saute over medium-high heat for 10 or 15 minutes, until most of the liquid subsides. Add:

- 1 small onion, or half a regular onion

Saute another 5 minutes or so. Add and simmer for 10 minutes or until it thickens slightly:

- 1/3 cup half and half (I never have cream on hand but we always have half and half for coffee)
- 1/3 cup chicken stock
- 1 or 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Add salt and pepper. At the end, stir in:

-1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

I served it on your whole wheat biscuits. Because the oven is broken I baked them in the toaster oven, which seemed to work fine.

It tasted like essence of mushrooms and was not too creamy. And oh, I ate such a big pile of sauteed spinach.