The Spicy Spatula

Greetings vegan food lovers! Did you miss me?

Did you even notice I was gone? Just kidding, of course you noticed. Last week kind of got away from me and here we are, back for another week of vegan food, vegan products and cruelty-free living!

Because life and work has been kind of hectic lately I’ve been really into making a big ol’ pot of food, something that goes great for lunch and dinner for two. It’s a great way to cut down on cooking when you’re busy while also eating something homemade, nutritious and delicious.

In my humble (and totally right) opinion you can’t go wrong with mushrooms. Crimini or button, oyster or enoki and when the price is right, King oyster. And even though they are super filthy and a headache to clean, I really, really love chanterelle mushrooms.

Did I mention that I love mushrooms?

I mention it because mushrooms are the real star of this dish. I used fresh crimini mushrooms and a mixture of frozen wild mushrooms which I really don’t recommend. The frozen mushrooms did not cook well and mostly they became mushy or disappeared into the dish so I’d recommend jarred if you can’t find variety among your fresh mushroom selection.

Flavor is Key

When it comes to cooking mushrooms for a dish like this, you gotta flavor them properly. What I like to do after wiping, chopping & weighing the mushrooms first is to season them and let them sit. Since I do a lot of vegan oil free cooking, I use vegan Worcestershire sauce or balsamic vinegar so start, and then add herbs and spices depending on what goes best with the dish.

For this vegan salad recipe I used vegan Worcestershire, dried rosemary and thyme, garlic, cayenne pepper, salt & white pepper. Give it a good toss or rub with your hands and let sit while you finish prepping everything else and pre-heating the oven.

Pick Your Veg

The great thing about dishes like this vegan barley salad recipe is that you can swap out what you don’t like or don’t have on hand with whatever you want. I used onion, carrots, garlic and dark leafy greens to go with the mushrooms and barely so use whatever you like just keep in mind cooking times.

Now, let’s get cookin’!

Kitchen Tools:

*Cutting board
*Kitchen knife
*Baking sheets
*Large mixing bowl
*Stock pot
*Wooden spoon

Ingredients:

*Barley
*Onion
*Leafy greens (I used turnip greens)
*Garlic
*Mushrooms
*Carrots
*TVP
*Waste-free broth
*Vegan Worcestershire sauce
*Herbs & spices

Instructions:

*Get the TVP into a pot of boiling water or broth, boil for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size.

*Chop and rinse dark leafy greens and add to a pot of boiling water/broth for 10 to 15 minutes.

*Cook barley according to package instructions.

*Next, chop the mushrooms and season them before laying out on a baking sheet.

*Cut onions into quarters. Slice the top off a garlic bulb. Rough chop carrots so they are the same size (ish) as the mushrooms. Season the vegetables and place them on a separate baking sheet from the mushrooms.

*Pre-heat the oven to 185C/375F.

*Place mushrooms in the oven first and cook 15 minutes before you add the second tray that holds the other vegetables.

*Stir the mushrooms and veggies halfway through the cooking process, about 15 minutes.

*Check again after 15 minutes to see how long remains.

*Pop TVP into the air fryer on 200C/400F for 12 minutes.

*Drain greens and add to a large mixing bowl along with the TVP, mushrooms and vegetables.

*Optionally, you can add a mustard and vinegar sauce to the top but honestly this recipe is so flavorful it stands on it own.

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