Mushroom Ragoût on Croutons

A ragoût is a thick stew, sometimes containing meat or game. Ragoût comes from the French word ragoûter, “to stimulate the appetite.” Somehow a ragoût is the perfect vehicle for using the wonderful bounty of dried mushrooms now offered in most supermarket produce departments. I think of this as the type of food served to the well-fed country folk in a Tolstoy novel, earthy and soul satisfying, in a day when gathering mushrooms for sustenance was a commonplace activity. Serve with che