Portabellas with Peanut Sauce

My favorite Thai restaurant is in Ithaca, NY -- Thai Cuisine. It boasts the "best Thai food in New York State, including New York City," according to Getaways For Gourmets. Every Sunday, there's this amazing dim sum brunch. Basically, the staff members carry around a couple trays of freshly prepared items. Then, they allow you to choose what you'd like to munch on, leave you alone for a short while, and return again with yet another selection of small dishes.

The process goes on for as long as you'd like it to. The best part is the price -- each plate costs less than $5 (and typically less than that!).

Of all selections, I most enjoy the portabellas with peanut sauce. And now that we don't live in Ithaca, I often crave the mushrooms like crazy. So, last night I set out to create a similar dish in our own kitchen. Though I didn't have coconut milk, the results are remarkably similar to the real deal.


PORTABELLAS WITH PEANUT SAUCE (for 4)

What you'll need . . .

• 4 large portabella mushrooms, scrub and remove stems
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter (I used Justin's with honey)
• 1 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sunflower or canola oil
• 1 tablespoon almond milk (or more, depending on your preferred taste)
• Sesame seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

Method . . .

1. Slice mushrooms into 1/4-ish inch slices.
2. In a large pan, spray with a bit of olive oil (or just lightly oil) and set over medium-high heat.
3. Lay out mushroom slices on the pan and reduce heat to medium. Cook and gently stir until both sides are lightly browned (mostly, the shrooms will get soft and juicy). Set aside.
4. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, and oil. Then add the almond milk and whisk until smooth. Add the cayenne, ginger, and sesame seeds. Stir until well incorporated.
5. Lay out mushroom slices on a plate and drizzle/top with a generous helping of the peanut sauce. Garnish with basil for extra tastiness.

Truth time: We didn't eat ours displayed this beautifully. Nope. That's all for show. Instead, we dumped a ton of the sauce onto the mushrooms and dug in immediately.


We've been on a quest to recreate many of our beloved weekend meals at home (because we go out to eat far more than I'd like to admit). We're getting pretty good at it, too -- enough that we're starting to prefer our twist on the dishes to the real thing.

So, here's my question for you: Have you cooked up any of your restaurant favorites at home? Were you extremely satisfied or horribly unhappy with the results? Leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

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A Meatless Mecca: Moosewood Restaurant

If you haven't already -- check out our Blog Love Fest 2009 -- we've got some great blogs on there (26 so far! -- Thanks for participating, people!). I'm planning to put up a sidebar button later today so we can enjoy the link love until next month's big share. So head over, share your blog (deadline is December 15th), and take a look at what others are writing.

Let's get to it! Moosewood Restaurant (If you haven't heard. It's kind of a big deal in the vegetarian community.)

I think I've mentioned that we relatively recently moved from Ithaca, NY, where we lived within half a mile of Moosewood for nearly eight years. I hadn't thought much about this fact until last fall . . . when I was walking the aisles of my local bookstore, picking up several cookbooks. I admit, I got a bit misty-eyed . . . for Ithaca, Moosewood-specifically, offers such amazing cuisine. And we have yet to find anything comparable in our new location.

When you can't find it -- make it, right? So, that day I picked up two new cookbooks: Simple Suppers and their fantastic Book of Desserts (both can be found here), adding to my collection that includes: Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant and Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I drooled for a while over the photos in Simple Suppers, drove home, and then got to work.

My favorite recipe so far is for this Thai Butternut Squash Soup.

What you'll need . . .

. . . for the soup part

• 1 cup coconut milk (I used the light variety)
• 1/2 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 12-ounce packages of frozen cooked winter squash
• 1 lime
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach

. . . for the tofu part

• 1/2 cake firm tofu (about 8 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Method . . .

1.) In a soup pot, whisk together the coconut milk, curry paste, sugar, salt, and broth.
2.) Add frozen squash, cover, and bring to a simmer.
3.) Cook covered, until the squash is thawed, for about 15 minutes.
4.) Meanwhile, prepare the tofu by cutting it into small cubes and putting it in a bowl.
5.) Toss with the soy sauce and curry paste.
6.) Heat oil in a small skillet on medium-high heat, and when the oil is hot: add the tofu and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes and then set aside.
7.) Lightly grate the lime peel and juice the lime.
8.) Add 1 teaspoon of the zest and 2 tablespoons of the juice to the simmering soup.
9.) Stir in the spinach and tofu -- and cook just until the spinach wilts.
10.) Add more sugar and salt to taste. Serve the soup garnished with cilantro if you like.

NOTE: If you eat seafood, you may also substitute 1/2 pound of peeled and deveined shrimp for the tofu.

Thinking of making the pilgrimage to Moosewood? I'll make your research a little easier:



Moosewood Restaurant
215 N. Cayuga Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
Directions

And while you're there, stop by GreenStar, a cooperative grocery market specializing in fair-trade, free-range, organic, vegetarian foods. Though I'm not entirely sure, I imagine Moosewood buys many of its ingredients there (locally). *Sniff* -- there I go getting sad again. Someday we'll move back!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever <3

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