Happy Meatless Monday!
Special thanks to my friend and neighbor Farmer Elizabeth over at Fat Moon for the freshly grown oyster mushrooms in this one! It brings new meaning to local food when it’s grown just a few hundred feet from your house. Coupled with fresh Springdell Spinach, garlic and onion, these didn’t stick around for long. The creamy rich sauce atop the fabulous veggies are pretty hard to resist.
The adaptation of the recipe I used is here at Vegetarian times. This recipe calls for fennel, which I didn’t have on-hand so I attempted to use a teaspoon of anise liquor as a substitute. It kind of worked, and beat purchasing a supermarket monstrosity only to have a bunch left behind. It would have been even better with the real deal, however. I look forward to trying this one again during fennel season!
Ingredients:
- 2 12-oz. pkg. fresh oyster mushrooms, tough parts of stems removed
- 4 Tbs. olive oil, divided
- 2 lb. baby spinach
- ½ cup mayonnaise (Try using this homemade Mayo!)
- ½ cup chopped fresh fennel
- 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbs. chopped shallots
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spread mushrooms in bottom of baking dish or baking sheet.
2. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté half of spinach 1 to 2 minutes, or until wilted, tossing occasionally. Remove from pan with tongs. Add 1 Tbs. olive oil to pan, and repeat with remaining spinach. Spread wilted spinach atop mushrooms in baking dish.
3. Whisk together remaining 2 Tbs. oil, mayonnaise, fennel, mustard, shallots, and garlic in small bowl. Spread sauce over spinach until well covered.
4. Bake 15 minutes, or until sauce begins to brown. Set oven to broil. Place baking dish under broiler, and broil 2 to 3 minutes, or until brown and bubbly. Serve as casserole, or spoon servings onto plates.