Monday, August 24, 2009

Grilled Oyster Mushrooms

When Isa posted about grilled oyster mushrooms from her trip to NYC I figured I would take a stab at them. Oyster mushrooms have a delicate texture but are still tough enough to stand up on the grill. At first I wasn't sure how to season the shrooms, but eventually settled on a garlic and herb infused oil. This was a good call. These are absolutely delicious with plenty of BBQ flavour with subtle flavours from the oil. I also like them because they can be enjoyed for what they are instead of trying to masquerade as a vegan version of a meat dish.

INGREDIENTS
Garlic and Herb Infused Oil
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 6 large cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 6 sun dried tomatoes (in oil), chopped
- oyster mushrooms (get the large bunches, like you see here); as many as you want to grill
- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and reduce heat to med-lo. Add basil and tomatoes and let simmer for 20 mins. Strain thought a fine sieve into a glass container. Obviously, this makes more than you will need here, so just keep the extra for another time.
2. Cut the mushroom bunched in half both vertically and horizontally (so the bunch is not too thick and as much of the mushroom can touch the grill as possible). Brush generously on all sides with the oil, then season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat grill on high. Grill mushrooms 4-5 mins per side. Resist the urge to flip over--just let them sit there and get some good grill marks.
4. Serve. You can trim off the tough end, or just cut off the more tender parts as you eat.