VEGAN COOKING TIPS
Quick and Easy Mushrooms
By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD
There are more than 30 types of edible mushrooms. The "common" mushrooms including button, cremini, and portobello are the most familiar and available, but it's great to take advantage of chanterelle, oyster, shiitake, straw, and many others when you find them. Each mushroom has its own flavor and texture, but all add umami to the menu.
Mushrooms are not actually a vegetable; they're a fungus. They contain B6, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Portobellos are a bit chewy when eaten fresh. If you'd like to mellow the texture, marinate in a small amount of citrus juice, vinegar, or wine for an hour prior to using. If you have the time, bake, grill, or roast portobello caps to use later instead of bread, for a hearty open-faced sandwich or a mushroom-crust individual pizza.
Sliced fresh common mushrooms can be the main ingredient in a salad (flavor a bowl of sliced mushrooms with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast, sliced green onions, and soy sauce) or used as a garnish. Sliced fresh mushrooms make a great sandwich filling, tossed lightly with mustard and your favorite salad dressing. Chopped fresh mushrooms can be added to cooked grains, to cooked veggies (asparagus, green beans, greens, peas, etc.), or to soups and vegan chilies to add flavor and texture. Be certain to use the entire mushroom, including caps and stems.
If you can find them, shiitake mushrooms can be stir-fried or sautéed, and pair well with garlic and onions. Consider lightly sautéing shiitakes, garlic, and onions in some vegetable broth as a topping for entrées instead of sauce or gravy. Add shiitakes to vegetable and bean soups and into noodles, pasta, or rice dishes. If you've had traditional miso soup, the mushrooms you tasted in the soup were shiitakes.
To make mushroom ceviche, toss chopped fresh mushrooms with oil and vinegar, cover and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for several hours. If you have leftover mushroom ceviche, you can quickly sauté it and serve over rice or cooked grains or use as a hot sandwich or wrap filling. You can also stir some ceviche into a tofu breakfast scramble or use as a topping for toast.
Fresh mushrooms are delightful eaten on their own. Simmer some in water or broth and a small amount of soy sauce and miso for a fast, light soup. This can also be used as cooking liquid for rice noodles, rice, or grains of your choice. To make a fast mushroom stroganoff, sauté or steam fresh, sliced mushrooms; add chopped onions; stir in vegan sour cream, white pepper, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder; and serve over prepared noodles.
