A friend Steffan recently started growing oyster mushrooms and came in with an amazing flush of mushrooms. This is a dish to celebrate his amazing new mushrooms, it is a wonderful take on the classic! When you can get a fresh flush of mushrooms where they come together this is a great way to cook them where their texture becomes grizzly and the flavour intensifies.

Mushroom steak with pepper sauce and chips

Name: Mushroom steak with pepper sauce and chips
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 400 g flush of oyster mushrooms (or miitake); 2 tbsp oil; 2 tbsp miso; 1 tbsp maple syrup; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp oil; 1 shallots; 10 green pepper corn; 1 tbsp miso; 50 ml red wine; 100 ml veg stock; 2 tbsp coconut cream; salt

Takes 30 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients

400 g flush of oyster mushrooms or miitake
2 tbsp oil

Mushroom dressing

2 tbsp miso
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder

Peppercorn sauce

1 tsp oil
1 shallots
10 green pepper corn
1 tbsp miso
50 ml red wine
100 ml veg stock
2 tbsp coconut cream
salt

Instructions

To make the peppercorn sauce – heat a medium saucepan on high heat and add in 5 of the pepper corns and cook for 3-4 mins to gentle toast them. Remove from the pan into a pestle and mortar and grind till smooth. Alternative you could just use some freshly ground peppercorns.
Peel and finely dice the shallots. Put the saucepan back on the heat and add 1 tsp oil along with the shallots and fry for 3-4 mins stirring occasionally. Once they start to brown add in the wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until the wine virtually evaporates. Next add in the stock along with the miso and bring to the boil. Add in the coconut cream and a pinch of salt. Turn the heat down, add in the ground pepper to taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. We actually added in ½ tsp of maple syrup to round out the sauce. Blend till smooth using an immersion blender or a counter blender. Set aside for plating up.
For the mushrooms dressing add all the ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil and allow to reduce for 1-2 mins stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.
Put a griddle pan on high heat and add in 1 tbsp of oil and mix it around to coat the pan. Add in the big mushroom and using another clean sauce pan press down on the mushroom to compress it. This is to encourage more evaporation of liquid from the mushrooms to concentrate the flavour and give it a more grizzly texture. It will also give more char. Cook until golden on both side and add a pinch of salt to each side.
Carefully add the mushroom dressing to one side and coat evenly and turn to cook for 1 minute on one side and coat the other side. Turn the pan off the heat and turn the mushroom and cook for 1 minute on the other side. The mushroom should look darker in colour and have lovely griddle lines. It should resemble a thin “steak” in appearance.
Serve with a generous portion of the pepper sauce on the side and some freshly cooked chips or french fries for a real treat of a meal!