Categories: Food

Sake Mushrooms

Do you all keep piles of *very important things* around? Bills, notes, magazine clippings – that sort of thing? I do, but inevitably, the most important documents disappear into the depths of the piles. Because of this, I’ve taken to taping things to the walls of my house. It’s a last ditch effort to keep important things in my line of sight and any flat surface is fair game – walls, cupboards, doors. Sometimes I find real gems! Including the inspiration for this sake mushroom recipe.

Sake Mushrooms: The Inspiration

While leafing through my kitchen “stack” the other day, I discovered a note to self. It was a recipe to try. The note simply said: big mushrooms, dunk in sake, dredge in rice flour, sauté, salt, dot with miso butter — Bruce Cole via Hank Shaw. Now I can’t remember if I encountered it on Bruce’s instagram feed (probably), but it sounded like a great idea.

I used my little note as a jumping off point. The mushrooms came together quickly, and I served them as part of a larger bowl. I tossed some cilantro with a bit of olive oil and shoyu, and then added toasted pine nuts as a salad component. A bit of tempeh was steamed while the mushrooms were cooking.

All in all, this resulted in an incredibly satisfying meal. The mushrooms become golden-crusted, tender fleshed coins of more, please. They’re the sort of thing you might use to top a salad, or a tangle of soba noodles, or, if you want to venture out on the decadence spectrum, a dip in a bowl of yuzu aioli would do the job.

There are a lot of great other tips and variations down in the comments. Have a look for other ideas along a similar line.

Sake Mushrooms: What To Serve Them With

You can serve the mushrooms in a bowl along a few strips of tempeh steamed for 5 minutes, drizzled with a touch of shoyu (or soy sauce), and a cilantro salad. The cilantro salad was made with a particularly vibrant bunch of cilantro trimmed of any ragged ends, and picked over for any wilted leaves. Wash and dry well, toss with a splash of olive oil, a drizzle of shoyu or soy sauce, and sprinkled with a handful of toasted pine nuts. They’re also great as part of a rice bowl, on top of a bowl of creamy polenta, as a topping on baked potatoes, or in place of the tofu in these vegan fish tacos.