Monday, November 8, 2010

Mashed Potatoes with Morel Gravy and Roasted Mushrooms, and a Giveaway for The Conscious Cook!


Earlier this summer I meandered over to my favorite farmers market. Amongst heirloom cherry tomatoes, long-stemmed artichokes, peaches, and berries, I found a local mushroom seller. Shiitakes, morels, black trumpet, so many, and all beautiful local mushrooms. I brought home three types, and pondered what to do with these gorgeous things. In the end, I roasted lion's mane and lobster mushrooms, and served it alongside morel gravy over mashed yukon gold potatoes. I wish I had a recipe for you, but I am sure you could make one up.

Or, alternatively, you could reach for your Tal Ronnen cookbook, and look up some of his great mushroom recipes. Today's giveaway is brought to you by the generous folks over at William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. I offer to you a copy of Tal Ronnen's wonderful cookbook, The Conscious Cook!


I have this cookbook, and I really love it. Everything I've made has been outstanding. It is beautifully designed with gorgeous photos. I am a particular fan of the celeriac soup with Granny Smith apples and chive oil. The cashew cream will become part of your regular repertoire, and it's easy easy.

To enter, please leave a comment below. Tell me about a gourmet meal you've made or eaten recently, or tell me about what you'd like Tal Ronnen to make for you if you had the chance, or anything you want. This giveaway is open to everybody, everywhere, from Wisconsin to Bavaria to Singapore, and all points in between! The winner will be chosen by a random number generator and posted tomorrow below tomorrow's giveaway. If you have won a bigger giveaway from this blog, please consider being kind and not entering further bigger giveaways--I'd love as many people to win something as possible!

The winner of yesterday's Earth Balance free product coupon is goforkgo! Congratulations! Please send your name and address to me at miso...@yahoo.com.

32 comments:

  1. The last gourmet meal I had was in the restaurant at the Hope Street Hotel in Liverpool. It was with a massive group from work and to be honest I wasn't expecting anything terribly exciting but it was brilliant. The starter had a dressing that I just could not identify the ingredients from but was so delicious and it was all beautifully presented too.

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  2. Oh wow. One can never have too many vegan cookbooks. Even when I'm just having sandwiches for lunch or dinner, I love reading recipes and planning meals in my head. I've never had a real vegan gourmet meal, but if I had the chance I'd choose something featuring tempeh, since I never had that either.

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  3. My last gourmet meal was at veggie fancy place Demuth's in Bath, UK. I had stuffed zucchini flowers for main course. I've wanted to eat these since I found out you can and was SO excited to finally get to eat them. The salad is organic and there was a live worm in mine, so they took it back and gave me a new plate, meaning i got to chomp through more flowers than I should've! I had a coconut cashew praline thing for dessert. Very expensive and tiny, but delicious. Just glad I didn't pay! Hahaha.

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  4. My last gourmet meal was at a campus chef competition--creamy delicious butternut soup, followed by lavender coconut ice cream and coconut chocolate truffles. Mmmm

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  5. So cool! I've been eyeing Tal's cookbook for awhile now...

    Just a couple weeks ago, I was at a restaurant for a big nursing conference hoping to eat a few meager scraps and/or the Luna bar I brought in my purse. Instead, I was blown away by the waitstaff and kitchen with a 5 course vegan meal that they prepared on-the-spot. My table-mates were even a little jealous! I definitely took the time to write a note of thanks, and I'll never forget that meal.

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  6. Wow, I have check out that book from the librabry but I would love to own it. I would love to have him cook his Piccata with the works, mashed potatoes and a smashing dessert. Great giveaway!!

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  7. Mmm...my last vegan gourmet meal was at the Chicago Diner! I had one of their burgers with Karmic Realignment Sauce and I'll never think of sauce the same again! So delicious :-)

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  8. a local mushroom seller, with Shiitakes, morels, black trumpets??? I thought it only existed in my wildest dreams!

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  9. I had a gourmet, vegan meal recently in Asheville, NC. It was a raw Spinach-Pesto Manicotti. It was zucchini noodles stuffed with live sunflower-spinach pesto, cashew ricotta, and fresh basil served over sun dried tomato marinara with house marinated olives. Mmm...just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

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  10. I think I had a really fine vegan bouillabaisse I made as a tester but that is about it I do not see much vegan fine food around. I just bought a copy of this book but if I won this one I will give it to my dad for xmas.

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  11. I love a vegan gourmet meal "Seitan Piccata with capers and white wine"

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  12. Yum, that looks delicious. The last time I had a gourmet meal was at Terre a Terre, Brighton's fanciest restaurant. The dessert was of course the best bit, vodka sozzled cherry churros with a chocolate dipping sauce. It was amazing!

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  13. My last gourmet meal was on my last birthday, at Millennium in San Francisco--yum!

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  14. Morel gravy! :faints:
    In Milwaukee, we also have a local mushroom seller (River Valley Ranch & Kitchens) that always has morels in season, plus a constant supply of shiitakes, oysters, portobellos, etc. all throughout the winter months. They usually have chanterelles, too, but I haven't been flush with enough cash to get 'em.
    My last homemade gourmet meal was seitan en croute with a shiitake, shallot, & red wine reduction as the sauce. Roasted Brussels sprouts, heirloom carrots, and fingerling potatoes on the side. Surprisingly easy, INSANELY delicious.

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  15. I honestly can't remember what my last homemade gourmet meal was. I think it's because I only cook for myself since my roommate really isn't interested in vegan food. I plan to make Isa's baked pumpkin pasta soon, that seems a little fancy to me, and actually I bought the stuff for your spaghetti squash recipe you posted the other day too.

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  16. My last gourmet meal was at Root Down in Denver. They even made salad decadent (the beet-pumpkin seed pesto helped)! I consider myself a good cook, and I try to plate things nicely, but I don't think I make a lot of "gourmet" foods. Mostly comfort food.

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  17. Oh, Pick me!!! I'd love this book.
    I made a lovely Mustard Tempeh for dinner the other night, and it really did end up looking and tasting like a high end gourmet restaurant dish. I sometimes surprise myself!

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  18. about a year ago, my mum got me this book. it is great!

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  19. I have yet to have one.... Only been officially vegan for 3 months now. I will be having one tomorrow for my birthday though.

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  20. Whoooo. One can't ever have enough vegan cookbooks. Maybe the last vegan gourmet meal I had was brusheta with tofu, tomato, and this nice pesto. Not to gourmet, but it's the closest I can think of.

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  21. I love mushroom and this sounds delicious!

    I recently attended a Supper Club that was all vegan and the food was very fancy and gourmet to the point that I don't remember the names of anything. I really liked the wine-infused pasta though.

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  22. I was on vacation in Amsterdam recently & at De Boelhod I had some v. fancy kind of flaky pie/bake thing as my main course. It was delicious!

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  23. I'm enjoying experimenting with cheese-like sauces and would love to taste a truly amazing one.

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  24. I don't think I've ever had a gourmet meal, vegan or not :(

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  25. I made some raw cashew cheese with herbs, garlic, and lemon. On veggies it tasted very gourmet and quite satisfying for my fanciful palette.

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  26. I am a big fan of Tal Ronnen, but have never found his book in my local store. Hope i win! :)

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  27. Chef Tal makes every vegan dish look amazing. (And his recipes, for gardein, taste amazing!) I'm not the best cook, but I've watched some of his videos, and have achieved success in the kitchen so that certainly says something about him. lol

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  28. I only have one vegan cookbook so far and I really want to add to the collection! I love reading thru them and dreaming of all the wonderful things I could make. :)

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  29. Last week I ate some Indian food (sag bhaji), and dal. But Iwould like to cook gourmet dishes myself and maybe Tal Ronnen could make me some Latin food like chapusas?

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  30. ooh, gourmet...hmm, probably something mediterranean...in the height of summer with figs and baby greens and cucumbers and tomatoes...I'd hope he could come up with something out of that!

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  31. Hurray! Thank you so much! Now I'll definitely remember the name of the last gourmet meal I had, since I'll have made it myself.

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