Mardi Gras Mushroom Étouffée

It’s time to party!  Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, is tomorrow, so get your wild on before Ash Wednesday kicks off 40 days of Lenten abstinence. Let the good times roll and make yourself some mushroom étouffée.

Mushroom étouffée sounds fancy, fussy, and French.  It’s two out of three — fancy enough to dazzle guests, but far from fussy. It’s quick and easy.  It’s French in origin, but with a Creole accent, a classic New Orleans dish that takes its name from the French verb etouffer — to asphyxiate or smother. Doesn’t sound like much of a party, agreed. But smothering, a beloved technique in traditional Southern cooking, makes for a party in the mouth.   

HOW TO MAKE MUSHROOM ÉTOUFFÉE:

1. In a Dutch oven or soup pot, melt vegan butter over medium-high heat. 
2. When it starts to foam, add the chopped onion, chopped celery and chopped sweet pepper. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften and turn golden,
3. Add the minced garlic and jalapeno. Give a stir and cook until the vegetables begin to relax and turn fragrant.
4. Sprinkle the unbleached flour over all — no need to sift — and continue stirring until vegetables are coated. Cook for another few minutes, until the flour absorbs all the vegetable juices and starts to toast.  
5. Add chopped tomatoes, wine, and broth. 
6. Stir to combine and continue cooking until mixture coalesces into a thick sauce. Add Creole seasoning and bay leaf.  Keep stirring, reducing heat to medium should the etouffée start to stick to the bottom of the pot.  
7. Tumble in the chopped mushrooms and gently stir to combine. It may appear there’s not enough sauce to coat the mushrooms, but continue cooking for another 5 to 10 minutes.  The mushrooms break down and soften under heat, producing their own rich broth. Remember, the mushrooms are smothered, not drowned.  
8. Add the leaves from a sprig of thyme, then season generously with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Many classic New Orleans recipes also get their richness from animal products. This one gets it from mushrooms — they’re naturally savory and umami.

It also gets help from the Creole holy trinity. No, we’re not talking anything religious, we’re talking onion, pepper and celery.  Together, these simple vegetables are the flavor-building aromatic threesome for many Creole recipes. They’re the Creole version of mirepoix. 

What’s the difference between Cajun and Creole? Cajun comes from the word Acadian, French colonists who settled in New Orleans in the 19th century. Creole is the delicious mix of New Orleans’s French, African, Caribbean, Spanish and Native American cultures and cuisines. How does that play out in the kitchen?  Chances are if it’s cream-based, it’s Cajun (oh, those French). If it’s tomato-based, it’s Creole.

Étouffér, also called smothering or browning, is a cooking technique done in a lidded pot or skillet. Here the Creole holy trinity gets good and gorgeous sauteéd in vegan butter over low heat, then is covered, creating its own rich sauce.  

With over 10,000 varieties of mushrooms, what kind should you use?  Fancy ones like like maitake and king oyster are lovely, but what’s great about this dish is that any kind of mushroom works. Even your basic white button mushroom shines when it gets the étouffée treatment.  Bonus, all mushrooms love to be cooked, and you really can’t overcook them. They’re your BFFs in the kitchen.

Traditionally, étouffée is served over white rice. But you know me — brown rice offers whole grain goodness, fiber, and a mildly nutty flavor that plays up the richness of this mushroom dish.

Don’t let the jalapeno and Creole seasoning scare you.  Mushroom étouffée only has a little gentle heat. It isn’t spicy in itself, but you can make it that way. That’s what Tabasco’s for.

Mushroom étouffée has a Mardi Gras-worthy opulence, but it’s plantbased, so it’s also suitable during Lent.   

If you don’t want to add wine, just use another 1/4 cup of vegetable broth.

Mushroom Étouffée

Étouffée, a classic Creole dish, takes its name from the French verb etouffer — to asphyxiate or smother. Exotic mushrooms such as maitake are spectacular here, but even white button mushrooms blossom when given the etouffée treatment. Serve over rice. White rice is the standard go-to, but brown offers a mild nutty flavor and a little whole grain goodness.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine creole

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

• 3 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 stalks celery chopped
• ½ red yellow or other sweet pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• ½ jalapeno minced
• 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup red wine*
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• ½ cup vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons Creole or blackened seasoning or substitute 1 teaspoon each paprika and garlic, plus a pinch of cayenne
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound mushrooms chopped
• sprig of fresh thyme
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

 

• In a Dutch oven or soup pot, melt vegan butter over medium-high heat. When it starts to foam, add the chopped onion, chopped celery and chopped sweet pepper. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften and turn golden.
• Add the minced garlic and jalapeno. Give a stir and cook until the vegetables begin to relax and turn fragrant.
• Sprinkle the unbleached flour over all — no need to sift — and continue stirring until vegetables are coated. Cook for another few minutes, until the flour absorbs all the vegetable juices and starts to toast.
• Add chopped tomatoes, wine, and broth.
• Stir to combine and continue cooking until mixture coalesces into a thick sauce. Add Creole seasoning and bay leaf. Keep stirring, reducing heat to medium should the etouffée start to stick to the bottom of the pot.
• Tumble in the chopped mushrooms and gently stir to combine. It may appear there’s not enough sauce to coat the mushrooms, but continue cooking for another 5 to 10 minutes. The mushrooms break down and soften under heat, producing their own rich broth.
• Stir so everything incorporates. Mushrooms and other vegetables should be tender, not mushy, and the gravy should be about the consistency of heavy cream — not gluey, not soupy. The mushrooms are smothered, not drowned. Add the leaves from a sprig of thyme, then season generously with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Notes

*If you don’t want to add wine, just use another 1/4 cup vegetable broth.

Keyword mushroom etouffee

More Mardi Gras Meals

• RBR — New Orleans red beans and rice
• Maque choux
• Gumbo Z aka Gumbo Z’herbes, green gumbo from Feeding the Hungry Ghost.
• Charity Morgan’s vegan gumbo
• Food with Feeling’s vegan king cake
• Many thanks and a big batch of Mushroom Étouffée to Laura Crabtree Hollenbeck, the bighearted artist who took the mushroom étouffée image, as delicious as the dish itself.

Thank you for reading my vegan stories and plant-based recipes. I sincerely love to connect with listeners and would like to hear your feedback, takeaways, “ah-ha!” moments, etc in the comments.

Connect with me for discounts, exclusive tips, and other freebies:
• Join my NEWSLETTER for exclusive content & offers
• Join my social networks on LINKEDIN, TWITTER and FACEBOOK

Want to learn more?
Explore more of my VEGAN RECIPES, and my COOK BOOKS.
Do you want a happier life, a greener plate, and a delicious world? Then sign up for VEG THERAPY.