These vegan king oyster mushroom scallops have an incredible texture that is pretty close to conventional scallops. Just amazing!
Mushrooms are the meat of the vegan kitchen, and king oyster mushrooms are an incredible plant-based tool for replicating the texture of scallops in spectacular fashion. I had some incredible mushroom vegan scallops at Farm Spirit in Portland for my birthday last year, and I was beside myself when I found this recipe. I served these vegan scallops as the starter for a summer dinner party I hosted last weekend and there were RAVES. This dish takes some time to put together. But, open a fabulous bottle of red, put on your favorite music, and prepare to be amazed. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
This incredible vegan scallop recipe comes from The Wicked Healthy Cookbook by Chad Sarno, Derek Sarno, and David Joachim, and has utterly stunning photography by Eva-Kosmas-Flores. This is, hands down, the most incredible plant-based cookbook I have seen in years. I am IN LOVE with this book, and am slowly (well actually, not so slowly) making my way through every single recipe in the book, and I have not hit a dud yet. The food is just exquisite.
Chefs Chad and Derek Sarno are just awesome humans, but are also among the world’s foremost authorities on plant- based cooking. Derek was the former Senior Global Executive Chef at Whole Foods Market and is now the Executive Chef and Director of Plant-Based Innovation for Tesco. Chad also worked at Whole Foods as a Senior Culinary Educator and the media spokesperson for the Global Healthy Eating program. He is also an ambassador for Rouxbe, the world’s largest online cooking school, where he launched the Professional Plant-Based Certification course. He’s also collaborated on a swag of cookbooks with Kris Carr and others.
Together, these brothers founded Good Catch Foods, and developed the Wicked Kitchen line of foods in Tesco. They’ve also both run restaurants all over the world. Yeah….just a bunch of slackers! (What the hell have I been doing with my time?)
If they weren’t awesome enough, they teamed up with prolific author David Joachim (who has worked on so many famous cookbooks I’ve lost count) to bring this triumph to life. This book takes badass plant-based cooking to a whole new level with incredible flavor and textural combinations that will leave you weak at the knees. There’s 125 plant-based recipes for everyday cooking and fancy dinner parties, and trust me, these recipes will make the most die-hard meat-eaters happy.
Some of the show-stopper recipes include: Sloppy BBQ Jackfruit Sliders with Slaw, Summer Vegetable Carpaccio, Corn Dumplings in Coconut Corn Broth, Grilled Sweet Potato, Sriracha Caramel, and Kale Toasts, Porcini Ravioli with Garlic Butter and Sorrel, and Chocoholic Fudge Brownies with Sea Salt and Dried Strawberries. They also call out the recipes that are gluten-free, no-added-sugar, soy-free, oil-free, and nut-free.
Besides the awesome recipes, there’s also a ton of other info in this book. It’s like a plant-based cooking bible. There’s the pantry, kitchen equipment lowdown; knife techniques; awesome substitute tables for swapping out sugar and salt; and tips for: layering flavors and aromatics, creating appealing textures, and plating for awesome presentation. The book is peppered with awesome informative sidebars and innovative cooking techniques such as pressing and searing mushrooms until they reach a rich and delicious meat-like consistency, and tips for oil-free cooking, and eating healthy on the run.
Here’s an excerpt from the book about the mushroom scallops: “The technique of pan-searing while basting with butter creates a rich, golden crust on mushrooms. It works great on crosscut slices of king oyster mushrooms, which have thick, firm stems and relatively small caps. It’s even better when you simmer king oyster “scallops” with sea vegetables and miso in a dashi-style broth to amp up their savory umami taste before pan-searing. With a creamy puree of Corona beans and some shaved asparagus, the seared scallops make a sexy plated appetizer. Make the Corona butter a few days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.”
Chad and Derek’s philosophy: Shoot for 80% healthy and 20% wicked, and you’ll be 100% sexy—it’s the Wicked Healthy way.
Woody Harrelson wrote the forward, and the raves of the kings and queens of the plant-based culinary kingdom are ringing everywhere. Everybody is talking about how incredible this book is.
RUN to get your copy of The Wicked Healthy Cookbook. I cannot rave enough about it.
PRO TIPS from Chad and Derek:
- Slice the leftover mushroom caps and use in a stir-fry or soup, or chop them to add to the mushroom filling for ravioli. You could also add them to mushroom stock or vegetable stock.
- If the mushroom stems are different diameters, you can use a small ring mold or cookie cutter to cut them uniform (if you’re fussing for a special occasion). To use the leftover broth, strain out the solids and use the broth to cook noodles.
- You can pan-fry the leftover asparagus for a veg bowl. Or add it to a stir-fry. Or do what we did for the green sauce dollops in the photo: Blanch the leftovers and a few asparagus spears in boiling water for 30 seconds, shock in ice water, then puree with a little olive oil and salt. That gives you a simple asparagus puree to decorate the plate here and there.
