And suddenly, we had all of the mushrooms.
Listen, we're a folk band, We aren't talking about anything psychedelic, here. As we were winding down our down time, between recording a new album and releasing our new EP (Cardboard and Christmas Lights! Head to Spotify for a listen) and filming music videos, we needed a little something to keep the credit card from building back up to astronomical levels. So, we picked up a few babysitting gigs and a couple shifts at one of our favorite businesses in Nashville-- My Veggie Chef. It's a vegan food meal delivery service (think Blue Apron, except way better) run by some pals. And luckily for us, they occasionally need one of us to fill in at the kitchen. Even luckier still, sometimes they over order mushrooms, which means that they have mercy on a couple of starving artists, and send the excess home with us.
And suddenly, we had all of the mushrooms.
If there's one thing we have learned from our ping-ponging life of feast and famine, it is to say thank you first and figure the rest out later. So with grateful hearts and a few fungi jokes (really only one-- it's pretty much a single hit punchline every time), we mashed as many raw mushrooms into our faces as we could before assessing the situation. And then came the question:
What the heck are we going to do with all of these mushrooms?!
It started pretty classy. A rich, wine based Greek mushroom stew that rid us of 8 cups of mushrooms and two cups of old wine that had been sitting around since December. We put them on our salads. We tossed them with garlic and onion and put them on toast. There was mushroom gravy and raw mushroom burritos, mushroom masala with fresh herbs and kale-mushroom tacos tossed with some of Scott's extra spicy hot sauce (dubbed Hot-Shot-Scott-Sauce-- but that's a recipe for another day). We made a mushroom pate for Valentine's Day that we ate on crackers and topped our homemade pizza with extra mushrooms and black olives. But still, they persisted. It was as if they were multiplying. So we gave some away, and we started plopping them in everything.
As we might have mentioned, we had been living our winter primarily vegan, and feeling much better because of it. So when a craving that we can only assume was caused by the Superbowl occurred for a dip-tastic, creamy, spicy something-or-other, we consulted our mushrooms (at this point, they had become not only an ingredient, but a sagely friend in the refrigerator). Mallory had recently discovered a cashew based vegan "mozzarella" (thanks, Internet!) that was waiting to be used for another pizza night. With the power of the craving and the swoops of her spatula, however, another boring pizza night was transformed into Buffalo Tempeh Dip, causing these two hangry vegans to rejoice AND use more mushrooms. It was a touchdown for everyone.
Without further fanfare, here is the March edition of The Rumbly Tummy, brought to you by Mushrooms Galore and Sports References we are in no position to make.
Buffalo Tempeh Dip
Ingredients:
For Vegan Moxarella Cheeze:
1/2 c raw cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
1 c water
3 TBSP + 2 tsp tapioca starch
1 1/2 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
For Tempeh Dip:
1 TBSP olive oil (or oil of choice)
2 green onions, chopped
1 whole jalapeno, seeded, deveined, diced*
1/2 brick tempeh, crumbled
1 c mushrooms, chopped finely
2 tsp low sodium tamari or soy sauce
1/3 c Frank's Red Hot Sauce (or Louisiana style wing sauce of choice-- add more for more spice!)
1/4 - 1/2 c soy milk (or non dairy milk of choice)
1 stalk celery, chopped
Instructions:
1. Place all ingredients for the Vegan Moxarella Cheeze in a blender. Blend until completely smooth.
2. Place in medium sauce pan, and heat over medium-high heat. Stir constantly with a whisk-- this will turn very quickly into a thick cheesy consistency, so don't leave it be! When it is the thick texture you like, remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Set aside.
3. In the same saucepan (the cheeze will come out in one clump pretty cleanly, so you likely won't need to wipe out the pan), heat oil on high. Add onion, jalapeno, tempeh, and mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms and tempeh are brown and getting a bit crispy, about 3 minutes.
4. Pour tamari over tempeh-mushroom mixture (be careful-- this is going to suck up fast because of the heat, so drizzle it around quickly then stir).
5. Lower the heat to medium-low, drop the Cheeze into the pan and stir to mix ingredients well together. Slowly stir in Hot Sauce, then soy milk until consistency is a thick but pliable dip.
6. Turn off heat, fold in celery. Serve with carrots and tortilla chips and more celery! Or mushrooms, if you have any...
*leave the seeds and veins in the pepper for a spicier dip!