Lemon Garlic Mushrooms

We have a crib. We put it together on Sunday and it took about an hour and a half and I only swore twice, which I'm counting as a success. It's white wood, simple design, Megan found it at a consignment shop in Shorewood in great condition. I assembled it while she sat in the glider we'd picked up the same day and read the instructions out loud with running editorial commentary on which step was unnecessary. The glider is dark gray. The crib is white. The room is sage green. The sun came through the window in the afternoon and I sat in the middle of the floor for a minute and just looked at it.

I've been making bigos this week — Polish hunter's stew, sauerkraut and kielbasa and various meats that simmer together for a long time until they become something better than themselves. It's a recipe that rewards patience, which I'm working on. You can't rush bigos. You can't rush much that's worth having, as it turns out. I made a huge pot, ate some immediately, froze the rest. It's good on day three in a way it isn't on day one. Something about the flavors needing time to decide what they are.

I've been doing this thing lately where I look at the crib from the doorway before bed. Just for a second. The apartment is quiet, Megan's in bed, the nursery is dark, and I stand there and think about what it's going to feel like in a few months when that crib is occupied. Terrifying and wonderful and completely new. I go to bed, sleep like a man with a lot on his mind, and get up in the morning and go to work and try to make beer that tastes like summer. That's the job.

Megan is from a small Irish-Catholic Milwaukee-suburban family. The small Sunday-dinners at her small parents’ house rotate with the small Sunday-dinners at Jake’s parents’ house. The small in-laws on both sides have been the small welcoming-presence. The small two-family-network is the small extended-support the small newlywed-life rests on.

The small future-kid-conversations have begun. Megan teaches small fourth-grade at a small public school in Wauwatosa. The small adoption-vs-biological conversation is in the small early-discussion stage. The small five-year-plan includes the small kid-or-kids in some form. The small kitchen is the small place where the small future is being practiced.

The small Lakefront Brewery shift-work continues to be the small steady-paycheck. The small forty-hour-week brewery-floor job pays the small twenty-two-an-hour rate that the small Milwaukee-blue-collar-economy supports. The small benefits are the small union-decent. The small ten-year-tenure-target is the small career-anchor.

Megan and Jake married in June 2024. The small newlywed-rhythm is in its small second year. The small two-bedroom rental on the small east-side of Milwaukee continues to be the small first-home. The small thirty-year-mortgage-eventually-someday is the small five-year-goal. The small marriage is the small foundation the small life is being built on.

The small Polish-American heritage is the small kitchen-identity. The small pierogi-recipe-cards from Babcia Helen (Jake’s grandmother who passed in 2018, who had lived two blocks from the small Bay-View family-house) is the small monthly-Saturday-tradition. The small kielbasa-and-sauerkraut. The small bigos. The small recipes that came over from the small Krakow-region in the small 1910s.

The small Milwaukee-winter is the small six-month-condition. The small cold-weather-comfort-food rotation runs October through April. The small soups, the small stews, the small braises, the small heavy-baked-goods. The small Midwestern-comfort-vocabulary is the small kitchen-language.

The bigos takes three days to be what it’s supposed to be, and I’m not going to try to compress that into something shareable — some things need the time they need. But the mushrooms are at the heart of it, and these lemon garlic mushrooms are something you can make on a Tuesday night when the crib is assembled and the apartment is quiet and you just want something warm and honest on the table. They’re what I’ll put together on a weeknight when I don’t have three days, and they’re good enough to stand on their own.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 17 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb cremini or button mushrooms, cleaned and halved
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Instructions

Heat the pan. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil until the butter is foaming but not yet browning, about 1–2 minutes.
Add the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms in a single layer. Let them sit undisturbed for 3–4 minutes until they develop a golden-brown sear on one side. Resist the urge to stir — patience here is the whole point.
Stir and season. Stir the mushrooms, add the salt and pepper, and continue cooking another 3–4 minutes until they are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated.
Add the garlic and lemon. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute until fragrant. Pour in the lemon juice and add the lemon zest, tossing to coat everything evenly. Cook 1 minute more.
Finish and serve. Remove from heat, scatter the parsley over the top, and taste for salt. Serve immediately alongside kielbasa, roast pork, or just a thick slice of bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Lemon Garlic Mushrooms — The Part of Bigos I Can Share Right Now