Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Sesame crusted mushrooms

I guess it would be too long to call this recipe Sesame Crusted Mushrooms on Chayote noodle bed with shitake miso sauce but that's exactly what it is. Before I start on that I'll just rant for a bit. So I ordered my "Vegan cupcakes take over the world" cookbook along with two others and I was sooo close to getting it but then it got sent back to the warehouse. There was a problem with my address. This time I ordered it from Amazon and I hope there won't be a problem. I want to join in the vegan cupcake fun.

I'm also taking a blogging hyatus... but not a long one. Over the next 3 days I'll be doing "the apple diet". It's as exciting as it sounds. Pretty much just apples all day, lots of water and a few other tweaks as detailed in Dr Pagano's book.

Needless to say, I wanted my "last meal" before starting the apple diet tomorrow to be a good one! Danika picked me up a Chayote last week because she thought it was cute and lime green (my favorite color) and the ones they had at the store were a product of Costa Rica ( my favorite country ). I had no idea what it was and yea... this is what I came up with... I'm quite happy with the result. The fresh crispiness of the chayote is an amazing contrast to the woody flavors of the mushrooms. The Oyster mushrooms in this recipe are ORGASMIC.... hence the picture! :) I hope I don't get in trouble for that picture LOL.

I know a lot of my recipes look daunting but really... this took maybe 45 minutes to make.



Sesame Crusted Mushrooms on Chayote noodle bed with shitake miso sauce

2 chayotes, cut into 1" strips (japanese mandolins rock!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 teaspoons agave nectar
1 teaspoon grated ginger
juice of half a lemon

2 medium shitake mushrooms
3/4 cup soy milk + 1tsp apple cider vinegar (to sour the s'milk)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon ground dried sage
2 tablespoon soy milk
1 teaspoon arrowroot
1 teaspoon mugi miso (barley miso)

6 oyster mushrooms (whole)
8 cremini mushrooms (quartered)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce
1 teaspoons tahini (sesame butter)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

In a wok, mix olive oil, agave nectar, ginger and lemon juice. Turn on high/medium heat and add chayote strips. Toss regularly until they're a bit softer. Hint: Start this first and check up on it every 1/2 minutes while you work on the sauce which is the next step.

In a small bowl, make a slurry with the 2 tablespoons of soy milk and the arrowroot. Cut the shitake mushrooms into strips. In a saucepan add olive oil, ginger and shitake mushrooms. Sprinkle sage and simmer on high/medium heat until the mushrooms start to release their juices. Add the sour soy milk tand mix regularly, pressing down on the mushrooms to release more juices until the soy milk mixture starts to simmer. Transfer the mixture to a blender and liquify for 30 to 60 seconds (mushrooms must be fully dissolved). Add miso and blend until well incorporated. Finally add the slurry to the mixture. Transfer the sauce back to the saucepan, mixing regularly until it starts to bubble. Remove from heat.

The Chayote should be ready by now. Place in a small seperate bowl. Rinse the wok and mix in sesame oil, agave nectar, white pepper, tamari and tahini. Place the oyster mushrooms face down onto the marinade. Wok should be on high/medium heat. Press down on the mushrooms and move them around regularly until a crust starts to form. Flip the mushrooms to the other side and wait until that side starts to get crispy. When they're ready, place them aside and add the cremini mushrooms into the wok (don't worry if there isn't any marinade left in your work by now; there's still traces and the cremini mushrooms will pick them up). Keep tossing the cremini mushrooms continuously until they are fully cooked; about 3 to 5 minutes.

To arrange: pool the sauce onto a plate and top with chayote "noodles". Create a hole in the nest of the 'noodles' so that the oyster mushrooms look as if they grew out of that nest. Add the cremini mushrooms along the sides.

Bon appetit!

PS: I'm working on a really kickass cake again... I will be posting it when I'm done my apple diet hell.
PPS: Okay so I couldn't leave you hanging without explaining the 'statue' in that picture. I got it in the Dominican republic. He normally is dressed with the barrel you see there... but when you take the barrel off... something SPRINGS up. Those cheeky Dominicans! :)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's one heck of a long name for your dish...it sounds amazing!

I can totally relate to your Vegan Cupcakes situation...I was there too. Keep up hope...it will come eventually and then you can spend hours flipping through the pages trying to decide what to make first.

Good luck with the apple diet!

Candi said...

I wish I could just eat the Chayote noodle dish you already made! Lol! It looks really exotic! Nice work! I love the different mushrooms mixed in. You're right, that this one doesn't look too time consuming. (Unless you don't own a mandolin yet!) If I cannot get ahold of the chayotes, I may try this on some other noodle. I love the sound of the sauce. The statue says it all! Lol!

Sorry about the cookbook troubles. Hey, at least it didn't arrive while you were restricted to just apples. I doubt there is an apple cupcake recipe. :) Good luck on the cleansing!! I think it's a great idea. I'd like to read more of the acidity/alkalinity concept. Thanks for the link to the apple diet!

Oooh..first apples, then an award winning cake! :) YES! Sounds great!

Oh, and I loved your idea of the Boston VegFest meet-up!!!! We could get quite a group there!

Susan Voisin said...

I never would have thought of making noodles from chayotes! I don't know why, since I've used zucchini before, but it just never occcured to me. What a great idea!

What's amazing is that you and I both posted a chayote recipe on the same day. Great minds...? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Now I'm going to have to try to find some Chayote! This looks incredible. I like the way you turned them into "noodles" and now I'm going to be on the search for a Japanese mandolin. I just got VCTOTW and am going to make the tiramisu cupcakes very very soon. I'm so excited! But, I promised my husband I'd try to paint a little downstairs before making them so it might not be for a few days. Boooo!

bazu said...

Ack! What's wrong with blogger?? I can't see the photo! Ack!

But- your recipe sounds fabulous as always. I will definitely keep my eyes out for chayote.

Good luck with the apple diet- hopefully the results will be terrific for you.

Oh, and I definitely took pictures of the pancakes, I even tried taking a "Ben-style" photo... can you stand the suspense? I stuck pretty close to the recipe but used canned pumpkin insted of the kabocha, since I couldn't find one. Since the canned is more concentrated, I added a bit more water. I tell you, I loved these pancakes.

Let's keep the idea of a 2007 vegfest blogger reunion going strong! I'm so there!

aTxVegn said...

You are naughty!

I adore mushrooms and miso together so I'm absolutely drooling! Chayote, however, I don't love. And it's so cheap and always available at my market though. I guess I better try stripping it to see if I might like it prepared that way.

Can't wait to see your next cake!

Nikk said...

The barrel is fairly reminiscent of Donkey Kong, no?

That dish looks uber fancy, like something you'd get at some trendy restaurant.

Oooh, apple diet. Perhaps that's the jump start I need! Can you cook them? I suppose pie and crisp and crumble wouldn't count, eh? :)

Kris said...

Oh, my that looks amazing. I love oyster mushrooms.

I hope you're having luck with your apple diet!

Ben Kaelan said...

Megan: *still waiting for package to be shipped* Seriously I think it's a conspiracy; I've never waited this long for a package from Amazon before. Normally things are shipped within 12-24 hours. It's crazy I tell you!

Candi: This one grocery store that's open until midnight here (that I don't really like because they don't have a huuuge produce and organic section but I go there anyway when I'm coming home from work at night sometimes) have this "mixed mushroom" package where for 4$ you get about 10 cremini mushrooms, 2-3 shitake mushrooms and 3-4 oyster mushrooms. It's a really good deal actually and a fun way to mix up the mushrooms. It is looking as if the cookbooks will get here after my apple diet is over which (seeing as I'm on day #2 right now) is a good thing in retrospect. Day 1 went okay but man... I actually walked into a grocery store with my sister last night to buy some cereal for her and I wanted to eat anything and everything in sight. Day 1 is like that... you wanna EAT... Day 2 is a lot more serene...day 3 as well. Totally there for VegFest 2007!!! :)

SusanV: I'm matchsticking everything ever since I bought a japanese mandolin. I don't know how I got around without it before. It's freakin' awesome. Things taste better in matchstick form :) Your Chayote recipe looks awesome; the planets must have aligned in a certain way that night for both of us to Chayote-it-up:)

Bazu: You can't blame the photo thing on Bloggger actually. That's my bad. Ever since I started blogging I've been annoyed by how blogger treats my images in my post so I very simply resorted to uploading them to geocities and linking them from there. That being said, Geo has been cutting off my website if there's too much traffic (too many people downloading my pictures). I'm gunna have to invest in webspace it seems or find a way to get along with Blogger. BUT NO!!! I CANNOT STAND THE SUSPENCE!!! I WANNA SEE THE PANCAKE PHOTOS!!! :) Pleeeeeeaaase! Ben style photo!?!?! Wow! I can't wait!! :)

TxnVgn: Maybe you could use Susan's idea and noodle up some zucchini and treat it the same way I treated the chayote noodles; I betcha it would work just as well :) That mushroom sauce is to die for; I was quite proud of myself when that turned out right.

Nikki: I like making fancy things. I think that's why I enjoy baking so much. Baked goods have a way of knocking people off their feet; threefold when they find out it's vegan. whahahha. Yea... The apple diet only involves raw apples unfortunately. It's quite boring that way. I try to switch it up between Red Delicious and Royal Gala... That's pretty much all I can do hhehe. Day 2 is just starting!

Kris: To be honest: I think I had oyster mushrooms for the first time like 2 weeks ago... okay maybe 4. But yes... I love them too! I don't know why didn't try them earlier! Apple diet is going good. Day 2 is a lot more sane than day 1 :) The end is near!

Candi said...

I craved an apple today and thought of you. I hope the apple diet is going well and that you didn't give in and actually eat any cardboard!

Crystal said...

love the statue!! That rocks.

Your dish sounds and looks interesting. I'm on the hunt for a recipe to use up my 2 chayotes...now I have more ideas - thanks!

-Crystal

Anonymous said...

So everyone commented on your dish (looks amazing) but didn't say a word about the statue ?

Well, here I am ! LOOOL
While looking at it, I thought that the statue's feet were stuck in the base (the barrel) and that is why the little guy didn't fall flat on his face.
And that made me think that a man in this situation would need a really scary pair of shoe ! LOL

urban vegan said...

Looks great. That's quite a mushroom...er...statue.