Sesame and Soy Marinated Mushroom Steaks
Sesame and Soy Marinated Mushroom Steaks |
Sesame and Soy Marinated Mushroom Steaks: We’re taking back the portobello mushroom cap “steak”: the most stereotypical of all vegan dinners. This recipe will show you how to make this senior citizen of a vegan dish into something so special and delicious that even your not-yet-vegan friends will be impressed.
Ingredients for Sesame and Soy Marinated Mushroom Steaks recipe
- ⅓ cup soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons raw sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2 green onions, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 to 4 portobello mushroom caps, cleaned
- Olive oil cooking spray
- 4 lime wedges
How to make Sesame and Soy Marinated Mushroom Steaks ?
Meatless Mondays
These days, when we think of Meatless Mondays, we think of Paul McCartney and Gwyneth Paltrow talking about the health benefits and environmental impact of eating less meat. But there was a time when going meatless wasn’t just a choice—it was our patriotic duty.
In 1917, Woodrow Wilson and the United States Food Administration (USFA) first launched Meatless Mondays as a way to help the World War I war effort and send food to parts of France and Belgium where people were starving due to shipping disruptions. With the slogan “Food Will Win This War!” they were hoping to inspire the home front to reduce the amount of meat in their meals so resources like gasoline, water, and labor used to produce meat and dairy products could be used to the benefit of the war effort instead. USFA printed thousands of recipe books and promotional materials to get the population on board—with, sadly, only mild success.
Voluntary rationing just didn’t work during World War I. So when, on the morning of the attack on Pearl Harbor, people flooded their grocers to buy up staples, Washington realized they needed a national institutionalized rationing system. Meat wasn’t the only item to be rationed—sugar, gasoline, and even panty hose would be itemized and dispersed to the public in limited quantities. The water and fuel used to produce these items was a drain on an economy that now had to build airplanes and tanks to fight the fascists. Homemakers had no choice but to embrace these new limitations, and cookbooks that illustrated creative ways to make more from less were bestsellers.
These books included some of the very first recipes for veggie burgers, lentil meatloafs, and garbanzo bean cutlets. They proudly sung the virtues of “mock meats” while acknowledging that their audience was learning a whole new way of looking at their kitchens. Honestly, a lot of these recipes sound pretty terrible, and most require an egg or cheese to bind them. There’s one in particular that claims you can make a “steak” using just cornflakes, an egg, and some ketchup.
Betty Crocker had already established “herself” as being a reliable source for homemaking tips, having held our hands through the Great Depression. As World War II began, Betty’s radio shows became more patriotic and embraced this new rationing system as not just a duty, but as a fun challenge. Her book/leaflet Your Share, published in 1943, contains numerous recipes for vegetable-focused casseroles and vegetarian meals featuring homemade mock meats. They still relied heavily on dairy products and eggs, but what else can you expect from a book that outlines seven food groups… the seventh being butter. Not kidding.
These days, Meatless Mondays is an international public health awareness program that strives to educate the public on the links between factory farming, meat production, and climate change, as well as the numerous health benefits that come from adopting a meat-free diet. Everyone from Al Gore to numerous celebrity chefs have endorsed this program as a positive force for good and a huge step in the right direction in fighting obesity, heart disease, and apocalyptic environmental destruction.