Blueprints
Chilled Oysters with Cucumber Mignonette
What I would use:
1 pack oyster mushrooms
½ cup cucumber peeled and diced
2 tablespoons of shallots or red onion diced
½ cup rice wine vinegar
Sea Salt – a generous amount
Cracked pepper to taste.
My Blueprint:
Rinse the pack of oyster mushrooms. Place in saucepan, submerged in water. Add ¼ cup sea sat. Boil on high for 10 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to become soft and take on the texture of an oyster. Pull mushrooms from heat and rinse in cold water until mushrooms cool down to at least room temp. Place in a bowl and submerge in clean fresh water. Add ¼ cup of sea salt. Stir until mixed well. Refrigerate in brine for up to 6 hours depending on how salty you like your oysters. Remove from refrigerator. Rinse mushrooms, saving some salt water to finish the oyster with at the end. Place mushrooms in dish you are using for plating. Add a drizzle of salt water. Top with a scoop of champaign cucumber mignonette and a dollop of cocktail sauce per oyster.
To make the Cucumber Mignonette simply peel, seed and dice ½ cup of cucumber. Next dice 2 tablespoons of shallot or red onion. Mix the onions with the cucumber, a ½ cup rice wine vinegar, and cracked pepper.
Tips and Tricks:
The longer you soak you mushrooms in the saltwater brine, the more like salt water they will taste. So, if you are a person who enjoys a very salty oyster, or likes salty foods then feel free to use the sea salt generously and soak the mushrooms longer. However, if you are not going for overly salty, you can reduce the salt levels you are soaking and cooking the mushrooms in. The texture will still be very oyster like, and once you top they mushroom with sauces like mignonette, or cocktail sauce, the salty flavor becomes less of the dominant flavor anyway.
Brand Recommendations:
Whole Foods and Melissa’s Produce have the best selection of mushrooms.
Vegan Belgium Waffles// Pancakes
1 Cup Organic Cinnamon Apple Sauce (egg replacement)
1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour (or any flour you wish to use)
1 1/2 - 1 3/4 Cups Almond Milk( or other prefered dairy free milk option)
1 1/2 Tablespoon Baking Powder
Tips:
*Stir in Almond milk last, and add until desired thickness is established for the batter.
*batter can also be used for pancakes
* Spray waffle iron with coconut oil spray before you pour each waffle.
*Top with anything you want! Apples and Cinnamon, bananas and chia seeds, or just plain maple.
Heirloom Carrot Enchilada Sauce
2 Cups chopped Heirloom Carrots
1 Cup Chopped onions
5 whole Garlic cloves
1/2 Cup chopped Anaheim Chili
1 Cup chopped mixed sweet peppers ( or bell pepper)
1 Cup chopped Roasted Tomato or Tomatillo ( this can be accomplished by placing the tomatoes under the broiler for 5 - 10 minutes)
4 Cups water ( added slowly as the vegetables cook down, one cup at a time)
* Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan. Add one cup of water and cook over medium high heat, stirring every few minutes
*add a cup of water at a time as the water is absorbed by the vegetables cooking down.
*once the ingredients are soft, pour into a blender and add an additional cup of water as needed for desired thickness of the sauce.
*add a kick to your sauce with an addition of 1/2 a Jalapeno Pepper
*add chunky tomatoes to turn this into a delicious ranchero sauce!
*pour sauce over enchiladas and enjoy!
Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes
This one is super easy
In a large pot, boil:
1 Large Russet potato cut into 8 pieces
1 Cup of spinach
½ container of mixed cauliflower and Broccoli
Cook until tender and soft.
Drain and return to pot
Add (and here is where you can get creative) whatever you want!
My suggestion:
About 2 tbsp. of butter
1 tbsp. of onion powder
1 Tsp garlic powder
Sea salt & cracked pepper
¼ cup of nutritional yeast (optional)
Whip with a fork
*Again, this is all to taste. So have fun with it.
Use this as a rough draft. Change it up whenever by adding other ingredients like vegan bacon or chives.
This can be served as is, or you can scoop the mashed potatoes into a baking pan sprayed with cooking oil and top with nutritional yeast. Broil for about 5 minutes, until the top is golden brown, then top with chives. Serve with crispy chicken tenders and barbeque sauce, or ranch.
If you choose to leave them as mashed you can top with Cheddar and Gravy for a KFC inspired bowl