I mainly use dried mushrooms for the rehydrating liquid. I'll soak dried porcini's in some hot water and then use that water as a stock for soups or cooking grains etc. I don't care for the texture of the rehydrated mushrooms themselves, so depending what I'm doing with the recipe I may just toss them. However, if they're finely chopped or pureed with something it's not so bad. For example, I made a porcini-chestnut soup this weekend where I soaked the dried porcinis for a half hour, then added that to the rest of the soup ingredients and at the end pureed the whole thing. Also, some mushrooms may have a better texture once rehydrated than others. I hear rehydrated morels are very similar to fresh ones, but I have no first-hand experience.
I agree with pills23 about the weird texture, the only dried ones I've used are shitake mushrooms, whose rehydrating liquid I put in a shitake-miso-beer gravy (I put the mushrooms in as well the first time I made it, but ended up picking them out when I ate it because I thought their texture was gross)
A friend and I made wild mushroom risotto using dried mushrooms. They were chopped up quite a bit so you didn't have to deal with the weird texture but they added lovely flavor because we used the mushroom water as some of the cooking water for the risotto. I don't have a recipe, it was his, but I'm sure you could find one!
Also, I'm sure you could find tons of interesting Asian recipes that call for dried mushrooms, particularly if they're from regions farther north where more dried produce gets used in the winter months.
If you have porcini or morrel, rehydrate & saute. Serve over baked polenta. (opt, vegan parmesan cheese if there is a such a thing, I don't know). Also optional, saute apples, and serve over or stir into polenta.
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Also, some mushrooms may have a better texture once rehydrated than others. I hear rehydrated morels are very similar to fresh ones, but I have no first-hand experience.
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