CHANTERELLES AND AN EASY SAUTE

It's chanterelle season again and, thank heavens, we had a good downpour last week to get things going after our long dry spell. We have some chanterelle mushrooms in our woods (the only ones, really, that I feel qualified to safely pick, though we sometimes find oyster mushrooms and cauliflower fungi), but one of our friends has the Motherlode of chanterelles on his property and kindly shares with us! (In fact, his wife, a writer, wrote a very funny piece on how sick she was of chanterelles last year!)

If we have an especially large haul of these lovely morsels, I clean, slice and oven-saute them in large baking pans, and then freeze them in 2 cup containers. This preserves their flavor the best, I think. (I don't really like them dried.) I often use these frozen chanterelles in my barley-mushroom soup (along with some dried porcini mushrooms), and in sautés like the following one.

Here is a recipe that I originally developed for my Vegan Feast newsletter last fall, using oyster mushrooms and my homemade seitan "chicken" cutlets, but it is equally delicious with my "Breast of Tofu"(which is in almost all of my cookbooks and the recipe is here), or frozen Chinese vegetarian "chicken" cutlets, instead of seitan, and chanterelles instead of oyster mushrooms.

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S VEGAN "CHICKEN" CUTLETS AND MUSHROOMS WITH SHERRIED CREME SAUCE
Serves 4
Forget that old recipe using canned cream of mushroom soup-- this vegan recipe is truly elegant. Serve with brown basmati or jasmine rice,  potatoes, or eggless noodles.

Ingredients:
Your favorite vegetarian "chicken" cutlets for 4 servings (could be a Chinese variety, or Gardein or homemade tofu, tempeh or seitan "chicken" cutlets)
SEASONED FLOUR
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tbs nutritional yeast flakes
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp onion powder
pepper to taste
SAUCE:
1 green onion, chopped
8 oz chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
1/2 cup vegan "chicken-style"broth, for steam-frying
1/3 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup extra-firm SILKEN tofu
1/2 cup mushroom broth OR vegan "chicken-style" broth
2 tbs chopped parsley
pinch nutmeg (freshly-ground, if possible)
salt to taste
freshly-ground black pepper to taste
several drops lemon juice
1/2 tbs cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tbs cold water or wine

Blend together the tofu and soymilk until very smooth, using a blender or hand
immersion blender. set aside.

Dredge the cutlets in the Seasoned Flour. Brown them in a large nonstick pan in the olive oil over medium heat. Remove the cutlets and add the green onion-- saute briefly. Add the mushrooms and steam-fry-saute adding the 1/2 c. broth as you stir.

Add the sherry and boil 1 minute. Add the tofu/soy milk mixture and the last 1/2 cup of broth. Add the parsley, nutmeg, a few drops of lemon juice and the dissolved cornstarch. Cook over high heat, stirring, just until it thickens a bit.

Taste for salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving): 451.5 calories; 15% calories from fat; 8.2g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 1014.9mg sodium; 727.8mg potassium; 44.6g carbohydrates; 7.3g fiber; 3.2g sugar; 50.1g protein; Points 10.5

Enjoy!