These are made from large King Oyster (also known as Trumpet) Mushrooms. The recipe is simple and provides and elegant dish. The taste and texture is remarkably similar to cooked scallops from the ocean. I am going to show two different ways of making these. The first is straight forward and easy. The second adds more taste by marinating.

Step one is to buy the King Oysters. These can be commonly found at many Asian food stores. They are inexpensive. Assume you want one mushroom per serving.

Prepping the mushrooms
Wash the mushrooms with running water and a gentle rub to remove any loose dirt. King oysters are normally pretty clean.

Trim off the head of the mushroom. You can also cook the heads or use them in another mushroom dish, but they will not look like scallops. If the bottom end is pointy, you can trim that off also.

Cut the stalks into 1″ thick slices. They will shrink down a little when cooked.

Simple Recipe:

Ingredients

• 4-6 Mushrooms
• Splash of oil
• 3 Tbls vegan butter
• Fresh thyme, 2 sprigs (if you have to, use dried thyme)
• 4-6 cloves of minced garlic
• Splash of lemon juice
• Salt and Pepper

Heat up a large skillet with a good coating of oil. When pan is hot, place the mushroom slices on the pan and cook for 5 minutes or so per side. Season with salt and pepper. Turn when the bottom side becomes browned and cook the other side. Remove from pan.

Melt the butter in the same skillet (or a smaller one) and add the thyme and minced garlic and a little more salt and pepper. Quickly cook the garlic in the butter. Add splash of lemon juice. Remove sprigs.

Pour mixture over the scallops and serve. Garnish with fresh parsley. Optionally serve with a lemon wedge.

Note: Optional would be to finish cooking the scallops in the butter, garlic, thyme, lemon juice mix.

Not as simple recipe: In this recipe, we use a marinade to infuse more flavor. This of course will require more time. This recipe was adapted from the awesome EdgyVeg

Ingredients:

• 4-6 Mushrooms
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 Tbls Miso Paste (white or red works)*
• 1 Tbls soy sauce
• 1-2 tsp crumbled seaweed or dulse flakes (optional…adds a more seafood flavor)
• Olive oil
• 3 Tbls vegan butter

Lemon Butter Sauce

• 4 Tbls vegan butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsl lemon juice (or one lemon juiced)
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh parsley (optional)
  
  In a medium bowl, add broth If you are making broth, use hot water. If you are using premade broth, heat the broth in a microwave. Add in miso paste, soy sauce, seaweed/dulse, and olive oil. Whisk until the miso paste dissolves.

Place sliced mushrooms in a ziplock bag and add marinade. Shake to evenly coat. Marinade, turning occasionally, at least 2 hours or even overnight.

In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of vegan butter. Adjust to medium-high heat. Place marinated mushrooms flat side down on skillet. Brown each side for 6-7 minutes. If the pan starts to dry out, add in a bit of oil or more butter. Set aside mushrooms after cooking.

In either a smaller pan, or in the same pan, make the lemon butter sauce. Melt butter, add garlic, stir. Add lemon juice. Add salt and pepper.

Note: If you want a thicker sauce, you can add a tablespoon of flour to make a roux, make sure to cook the flour in the butter.

Pour lemon butter sauce over scallops and serve with fresh parsley garnish and a lemon wedge.

*Miso paste adds more unami. If you do not have miso paste, you can simple use one more tablespoon of soy sauce and one more tablespoon of olive oil.