king trumpet mushrooms

last weekend kris and i made a trip to rainbow grocery....we don't go too often so when we do it feels like a special treat and we splurge. which is really easy to do in a store with a mind bogglingly large bulk section, vegan treats out the wazoo and a produce section brimming with things i just can't find at our neighborhood stores. things like king trumpet mushrooms*! i've ordered these shrooms out before but this was my first time cooking with them at home and already i am in love. they're just so big and meaty and sturdy and they lend themselves so well to pan frying. they're pretty much begging you to slice 'em up and fry 'em. mmmmmmm. i winged it here and i must say this dish was a huge success....kris and i gobbled them down.

pan fried king trumpet mushrooms
ingredients:
2 large king trumpet mushrooms (more if you got 'em!)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
sesame seeds
for the sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 inch ginger, grated

slice the mushrooms into 1/2ish inch slices. heat a thin layer of oil and cook mushrooms a few minutes on each side until lightly browned.

meanwhile whisk together all sauce ingredients.

when mushrooms are cooked arrange them on a plate and pour sauce on top. sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds and enjoy!

*and fiddleheads which i also cooked for the first time. i thought they were quite tasty but i really didn't do anything much beyond steaming them. however, aren't they cute???


-d

ginger miso dressing

i love anything ginger and miso and this dressing is no exception. while it won't make your salad stunningly gorgeous to look at (or photograph) it will make it stunningly delicious to eat...and one of these things is more important than the other.

the recipe comes from the cafe flora cookbook, which came to my attention after my jill went to seattle and told me about all the fabulous things she ate at cafe flora. while i have yet to make a visit myself i did acquire the cookbook and this salad is the first thing i made.

the salad here is mixed greens, grapefruit, avocado, daikon and garlicky sweet shiitake mushrooms. it was fantastic. we had a lot of dressing leftover which we used to make anther gigantic dinner salad the next day and then used the remainder to toss into a quinoa bowl (so yes, you will have lots of dressing but you will have no shortage of uses for it. you might even want to drink it it's so yummy). oh and it's only got a handful of ingredients and is super simple to make.

ginger miso dressing
(from cafe flora cookbook)
ingredients:
2 tablespoons light miso
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 water

combine the miso, vinegar, ginger, and garlic in a blender. with blender running, drizzle in the vegetable oil. add 1/4 cup water to thin the mixture, and blend until smooth.

-d