Creamy mushrooms on toast

veganmofo

This one of my favourite things to have for a weekend breakfast. It goes great with a side of vegan bacon and a soya latte. I’ve been inspired by Mo’s (Mosetta Stone) top five favourite breakfast type things, and wanted to share some of the breakfast things I like.

Creamy mushrooms on toast

I adapted this recipe from a cookbook whose name I can’t recall. I do remember quickly scribbling it down, as discretely as I could, whilst standing in a bookstore salivating over various recipes in cookbooks (I must have been hungry).

The recipe calls for chives, which were growing in our garden this summer, but are now no more, so I used three-cornered wild garlic instead (the above-ground green part, not the bulb), which is still growing in our garden.

For the vegan cream cheese, I used Provamel Soft Cheese because I’d bought some a few weeks ago to try. I usually use Original Creamy Sheese. They’re both equally good in this recipe. For margarine, I used my usual Pure.

British       American
250g   coarsely chopped mushrooms   1/2 pound
2 teaspoons   olive oil, divided   2 teaspoons
1 teaspoon   vegan margarine   1 teaspoon
1   small clove garlic, minced   1
    salt and pepper, to taste    
1 teaspoon   white balsamic vinegar   1 teaspoon
1-1/2 tablespoons   finely chopped chives or wild garlic   1-1/2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons   vegan cream cheese   2 tablespoons
2   thick slices bread   2

1. In a heavy pan, saute mushrooms in one teaspoon olive oil over medium heat until they are moist. Remove from pan. Turn heat down to low.

2. Add remaining teaspoon of olive oil and the teaspoon of margarine to pan, and saute garlic until fragrant but not browned, about one minute.

3. Add mushrooms back into pan and turn heat to medium. Saute until the mushrooms start to get browned and crispy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then add balsamic vinegar and half of chives/wild garlic and stir well. Remove from heat.

4. Meanwhile, mix cream cheese with remaining chives/wild garlic, and toast the bread.

5. Spread cream cheese mixture onto toast, and top with mushrooms.

Makes two servings.

7 Comments

  1. Hey, I’ve just sussed out you live in the UK (Bristol??) so it looks like I’ll be able to get my mitts on some of that frozen shrimp after all. I am happy!
    I’ve not heard of Provamel…is it good? Is it better than other cheeses you’ve tried, I see you mention Sheese as well. I’m trying to decide which cheese to get when I’m in the UK at Christmas…I’ve never tried vegan cheese yet and I want to choose the right one so as I am not disappointed.
    Any advice greatly appreciated!

  2. Hey Jeni,

    Ya, I’m a displaced Canadian now living in the UK. Cool that you are coming for a visit to this side of the pond.

    I think I prefer creamy Sheese over the Provamel… it’s got a creamier consistency. I’ve only bought two (small) tubs of Provamel, though. Probably a new product, as the first time I bought it was the first time I’d ever seen it.

    Creamy Sheese does have a bit of a sweet taste, which Provamel doesn’t, but I’ve used Sheese in all kinds of savoury dishes, and haven’t found the slight sweet taste to be a problem at all (i.e. I don’t notice it). Sheese comes in several different flavours, but I think the plain (“Original”) flavour is best, as it’s the most versatile.

    As for regular block vegan cheese, my favourite for melting purposes (on top of pizza, lasagne, or to make killer grilled cheese sandwiches) is Redwood’s Cheezly, one of the “super melting” types (Mozzarella, Gouda or Edam). The other varieties of Cheezly (which are not called “super-melting”, but which DO melt, just not as readily) are Cheddar (several types), Garlic & Herb and Nacho flavours. My faves there are the red or white Cheddar.

    But I prefer Sheese for block vegan cheese. It’s got a stronger flavour which I think is more cheese-like. My favourites are Blue, Smoked Cheddar and Strong Cheddar (though I haven’t tried ALL the Sheese flavours). Sheese will melt as well, in sauces etc, but not as readily as the “super-melting” varieties of Cheezly.

    I guess it depends on what kind of cheese you liked in your pre-vegan days.

    BTW, if you like chocolate, Organica make some awesome vegan chocolate… like Hazelnut Nougat, something called a Couverture bar (which tastes kinda like caramel chocolate) and another white chocolate bar which is oooohh so tasty. Also, Plamil make a couple of vegan chocolate spreads (regular and orange) which are to die for. If you like chocolate, that is.

    There are also a lot of great faux meat and seafood products, like the previously mentioned shrimp, as well as cod, smoked salmon, chicken, etc etc. If you’re interested, I can let you know which ones are my faves and where to get them.

    The only caveat to all this is that finding the products you want can be a little frustrating… there’s no one store that carries everything, so it’s best to plan ahead to make sure you get all that you hanker for.

    What part of the UK will you be visiting?

  3. WOW! Such great info – thanks for taking the time to reply.
    I’m originally from the UK so I’m pretty up on all the fake meats, but I’ve only been vegan since February and cheese is something I’m so curious to try. I’ve heard mixed reviews about a lot of fake cheeses but Sheese does seem to be a favourite for a lot of people.
    Have you heard about Sosmix?

    http://www.petitiononline.com/sosmix/

    Outrageous!

    I’ll be visiting Bournemouth and I may be traveling up to Bristol if I can talk my partner into it. That shrimp has me intrigued! Seafood is something I used to love, especially on pizza!
    🙂

  4. the pic makes me hungry 🙂 please check out http://www.MushroomPharm.com to learn and share experiences about medicinal mushrooms.

  5. Hi Jeni,

    No, I hadn’t heard about Sosmix… that is SOOO annoying when companies do that. I’m amazed at the number of things that have milk products in them, like some brands of black pepper crisps, or pickled beetroot. Why do milk products need to be in veggie sausage mix, or pickles? Perhaps they have a surplus of milk they need to get rid of 😡

    (OK, rant over…)

    I have been to Bournemouth and can recommend the falafels at Retro. YUMMMMMMY!

  6. Thanks for the falafels recommendation – don’t know if we’ll get to eat out as Mother-in-law has ever intention of spoiling us rotten – this is my first vegan Xmas though – so we’ll see.
    Yeah – milk derivatives seem to turn up in the most STRANGEST of places!!
    Bizzarre!

  7. I love this recipe, this is my favourite weekend treat for breakfast now. 🙂

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