The other day Q and I went down to Sunset Park's chinatown and grabbed some goodies. We walked into a chaotic market and I practically crapped myself. There, sitting only a few feet from a plastic produce bag nestled tightly in the curls of my fingers, was a whole box of King Oyster Mushrooms. There's something intoxicating about fresh mushrooms, especially when they're not shrink wrapped. Maybe it's the hunter gatherer in me that longs to forage through the pristine woods.
So I picked out two beautiful King Oyster Mushrooms and some Choy Sum (a chinese green).
After making steaks out of Turnips, I decided to continue along on the path of non-meat dishes inspired by those centered around meat. Root Vegetable = Cow Steaks, Big Mushrooms = Scallops.
Now the tops of these here King Oyster Mushrooms don't have to much in common with the appearance of scallops, so chop them the hell off. Do not throw them out. I simply added them to a vegetable stock I was making. I also took the butts of the mushrooms off and tossed them in the stock pot as well.
To create the scallop effect with you mushrooms, just cut the body of the mushroom into scallop size pieces.
To cooke the mushroom scallops, do as you would any scallop. Simply heat a pan with some butter or oil or both, salt and pepper the mushroom segments and sear them to a nice golden brown. To spice it up, I added a bit a miso to the pan with the butter.
Cook the mushrooms for about a couple of minutes a side. Once both sides are nicely browned, add some stock, wine, or whatever liquid your little heart desires, to the pan and toss a cover on the pan. Oh, your cast iron skillet that you've perfectly seasoned over the years doesn't have a lid to go with it. Well use your brain and rig a piece of tin foil to do the job.
After a minute or two, check the mushrooms and give 'em a poke...not that kind of filthy act, more like the kind of poke you would give a steak to test its doneness. If they feel tender and soft, or in other words, not firm, then they are most likely done. Weird... overcooked mushrooms = overcooked scallops, funny how that works. If you don't like your scallops to be like hockey pucks, then I'm sure you don't want your mushrooms to be like hockey pucks.
To bring it all together in its vegetarian glory, I sauteed the Choy Sum with a pieces of Kale I had left over.
This was also accompanied by a puree of roasted yellow carrots and scallions.
There you have it.
