Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

I’m sure it’s probably obvious by now, but I love mushrooms. I could eat them every day and never tire of them. This is a fun way to use beautiful field mushrooms, and tofu based cream cheese. They would work well as a starter, or a light main served with a colourful salad. I’ll also include how I make my tofu cream cheese, it’s really easy, but if you prefer shop bought vegan cream cheese feel free to swap it

Serves; Four as a starter, two as a main Cook time; 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes if making your own cream cheese

Start by making the cream cheese

You’ll need;

1. One roughly 400g block of firm tofu
2. Two tablespoons of dairy-free milk
3. Two tablespoons of lemon juice
4. One tablespoon of nutritional yeast
5. One teaspoon of Italian herbs
6. One teaspoon of dried basil
7. One teaspoon of dried parsley
8. Salt and black pepper to taste

Method;

• Start by pressing the tofu for 30 minutes. You can do this by wrapping the tofu in a towel, or kitchen roll. Then balancing a plate, weighed down with a couple of tins on it
• Next, dice the tofu and add it into a blender with the milk, lemon juice and nutritional yeast. Don’t add the herbs just yet, I like them to still be visible in the cream cheese, so I add those at the end
• Blend the tofu until it’s completely smooth. Then finally season to taste with salt and black pepper, then finally add the herbs. Store the cream cheese in an airtight container in the fridge. It should keep well for up to a week in the fridge

For the stuffed mushrooms, you’ll need;

1. Four large field mushrooms, roughly 250g
2. 150g dairy-free cream cheese, as mentioned above
3. 30g grated dairy-free cheese
4. 10g panko breadcrumbs
5. One teaspoon of butter
6. One clove of garlic, minced

Method;

• Carefully remove the stems from the mushrooms, then dice them. Heat the dairy-free butter in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Once melted, add in the diced mushrooms stems
• Fry the diced mushroom for five minutes and then add in the garlic. Fry the garlic for five minutes and then set the mushroom and garlic aside to cool for a minute or two
• Into a mixing bowl, add the cooled mushroom and garlic. Then add the cream cheese and mix until well combined
• Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the field mushrooms, then top with cheese and then the breadcrumbs
• Place the mushrooms onto a lined baking tray and bake at 200°C/180°C fan assisted for 15-18 minutes. Once baked serve immediately

Aside from the delicious flavours going on, I also love the mix of textures. You have soft, tender mushrooms with creamy, smooth tofu cream cheese, and crispy, crunchy breadcrumbs. So if you also like food to have a range of textures as well as flavours, you’ll love this

Now if you choose to make your own cream cheese, there will be leftover cream cheese to use up. If you’re stuck for how to use it, this blog post that contains two more recipes that call for tofu cream cheese. A creamy mushroom spaghetti dish, and creamy tomato and mushrooms on toast. You can also eat tofu cream cheese on toast, crackers, sandwiches or wraps. You can also thin it down a little bit and use it as a dip, either hot or cold. You can also make creamy herby mash, by adding a couple of spoons to mashed potatoes. You can also add a creamy element by adding some cream cheese to soups or sauces. It’s really quite versatile