Sweet Potato with Mushroom Nut Butter (Vegan)

Ingredients

— full box white or baby bella mushrooms
— 1 whole sweet potato, skin scrubbed and cleaned
— dried oregano
— dried thyme
— ground cinnamon
— salt (I used salt with ground & dried porcini added, which is gorgeous)
— olive oil
— walnuts

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Preparation (1) — Whole Meal for One Person

1. Wrap sweet potato in foil and bake at 180 C (350 F) until tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Clean mushrooms by gently rubbing dirt off with a dry paper towel or clean kitchen cloth. Slice.
3. Put olive oil in a pan, about 2 tbsp, and heat on medium. Add mushrooms. Cook until sizzling.
4. Add generous pinch of oregano, and less generous pinches of thyme and cinnamon. Salt to taste. NOTE : The mushrooms will cook way down, to about 1/4 cup max., so be sparing with the salt.
5. Top mushrooms with about an inch of water. Cook until the mushrooms are very brown and the water in the pan has almost entirely evaporated. The mushrooms should still be wet. Let cool. Mince mushrooms very finely.
6. Make a paste of about 2 tbsp of walnuts using a mortar & pestle, or a plastic bag & rolling pin.
7. Combine mushrooms, mushroom liquid, & ground walnuts. Put them back in the pan on a low heat. Cook, stirring well, until the mixture sweetens a little and the flavours have melded well. You may want to add more oil or water to give the paste a more buttery consistency.
8. Carefully remove sweet potato from oven. Unwrap top end, and prick with a fork to let the steam escape. Wait for a few minutes.
9. You can either slice a cross in the top of the potato and fill it with the mushroom butter, or scoop out the flesh and top with the mushroom mixture.

Preparation (2) — Sweet Potato and Mushroom Bake

Addl. Ingredients

— margarine
— brown sugar
— sour baking apples (like Granny Smiths), washed and sliced
— pumpkin seeds, shelled

1. One potato will serve two people as a side dish. Multiply potatoes (and corresponding amounts) by 1/2 the number of people you wish to serve.
2. Follow the instructions for preparation (1), points 1-8.
3. Unwrap the sweet potatoes. Let cool. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl, and add margarine, 1/2 tbsp per potato used, and brown sugar, 1 tsp per potato used. Mash with a fork.
4. Fill a glass baking dish with potato mixture. Top with mushroom butter. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
5. Brush apple slices with melted margarine and sprinkle with brown sugar. Press into the mushroom butter topping. You can form an entire layer if you like, or use as a generous topping.

All of my recipes are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.