Posted February 21, 2011 by wrosie in VeganCooking. Tagged: cooking, dairy free, food, recipe, vegan, vegetarian. Leave a Comment

I recently purchased the book ‘The Complete Guide to Vegan Substitutions’. I highly recommend this book for vegans new and old. I love it. I thought it was set out nicely and was clear and concise (but more on this in a later post!).

So I was inspired by this book to try out the ’Dijon Portobello Steaks’. The book recommends serving this dish with Yucca fries and an Aji verde sauce (which is a sauce commonly found on tables in Peru and the rest of South America). However, I didn’t have/ couldn’t find some of the ingredients for these side dishes so I decided to just substitute them for things I did have. Instead of the yucca fries I went with making homemade chips my mum’s way and the I guess the sauce I ended up creating was a simple roasted red pepper concoction as opposed to being what you’d find in Peru. It turned out quite nicely in the end even if I do say so myself and I shall definitely be sampling these again!

So without further a do here’s how my first culinary adventure began…

You will need:



For the ’steaks’

– ½ cup (120ml) mild Dijon mustard

– 3 tablespoons (45ml) balsamic vinegar

– 2 tablespoons (30ml) agave nectar (This is a natural sweetener that I literally couldn’t live without. If you’re in the UK you’ll be able to pick this up at Holland and Barrat quite easily, I have come across it Tesco too so keep an eye out for it!)

– 2 Large Portobello mushrooms, stems removed

For the sauce

– a handful or so of fresh baby spinach

– a handful of fresh parsley

– 3 sweet pointed peppers

– 2- 3 cloves of garlic (depends on size and how much you like garlic!)

– 1 tablespoon of fresh lime/ lemon juice (I used lime juice for mine because that’s what I had but lemon would work just as well!)

For the chips

– 3-4 red russet potatoes (again this really depends on size and how many you’re cooking for)

.::How it’s done:

Sauce:

Remove the stems from the peppers and place on a lined baking tray, spray with a little cooking oil and roast at 180°C (350°F, or gas mark 4) for about 30minutes.

When peppers are ready, chop them up and place in a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blitz until puréed.

‘Steaks’:

In a small bowl mix together the mustard, balsamic vinegar, and agave . Season to taste. Place the mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with the marinade. Let this soak for at least 15 minutes.

Remove mushrooms from marinade and place on the grill or in a grill pan, cooking for approximately 7 minutes per side basting with the marinade until mushrooms are tender.

Chips:

Peel, wash, and chop potatoes into chip shapes.

into chip shapes. Boil chips for approximately 5 minutes. You don’t want the potatoes too soft!

Drain chips on a piece of kitchen roll and leave to cool for a couple of minutes.

Place chips on a baking tray, spray with some cooking oil and pop in a pre-heated oven at 180°C (350°F, or gas mark 4) for around 20-25 minutes.