1. Place dried mushrooms in a bowl of warm water for about 20 minutes. You should see any debris or sand concentrate at the bottom,leaving the rehydrating mushrooms floating in the clean water above.
2. After several minutes, swish the mushrooms around in the bowl to make sure any additional debris has fallen off.
3. Once fully soft, gently lift the mushrooms out of the water
4. Strain this water through a fine sieve. A coffee filter in a funnel also works well. The clean, strained mushroom water can later be added to stock or used in a sauce.
5. Your clean, rehydrated mushrooms are plumped and now ready to cook! After this process, chop and use the rehydrated mushrooms as you wish. You can quickly sauté in butter or olive oil alone or with some garlic, shallots, or onions. After they can join whatever dish you want, be it a mushroom sauce for steak, pasta sauce, into a quesadilla, onto the browned chicken, chops or wherever your fancy takes you.
