Smoked Mushroom BBQ

I decided that there was no one method of preparing vegetables that could capture the complexity that is the draw of conventional BBQ. So I decided that I would try merging flavors from three different cooking methods in order to create a proper vegetarian BBQ experience. I used fried seitan, grilled portobellos, and smoked button mushroom in concert with a smoky and spicy homemade BBQ sauce. It was fantastic.

You will need:

5 8-oz. packages of white button mushrooms

3 packages of seitan

3 large portobello mushroom caps

dry rub

lots of BBQ sauce

olive oil

Smoke the button mushrooms using THIS method I developed for smoking garlic. Next, stick them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until cooked through. Shake dry rub onto the portobello mushrooms, drizzle them with olive oil, and grill until thoroughly marked. Lastly, fry seitan that has been well seasoned with the dry rub in a few tablespoons of olive oil until crispy. Lay all three components out on your chopping block and give everything a rough chop. Make sure everything gets broken down into bite-sized pieces. Transfer to a large baking dish. Mix in about a cup of BBQ sauce and keep warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve.

I served mine with a fennel slaw that was simply a sliced fennel bulb, sliced head of cabbage, and two grated carrots mixed with about a 1/2 cup of soy mayo, 2 tablespoons of mustard, and a splash of mirin. Pile the mushroom mixture onto a bun, add extra sauce, a heap of slaw and enjoy. The smokiness of the buttons and the texture of the seitan make for one fine Memorial Day BBQ sandwich.