What We Ate Wednesday--Umami Mushrooms with Moonshine Mash and Roasted Broccoli

Hello lovelies! This was kind of a made up on the spot sort of dinner.  I got the idea for Moonshine Mash from a recipe by poverty campaigner Jack Monroe. Her recipe uses "grated strong hard cheese" but i figured some vegan Parmesan would work. I loved the golden colour from the sweetcorn mixed in with the potatoes and then was thinking "What would go well with this? What have I got in my kitchen?"

The answer was an onion, some mushrooms and half a head of broccoli.

It was like an episode of Ready, Steady, Cook.

So while the potatoes and sweetcorn were boiling and the broccoli was roasting, I was trying to make some savoury mushrooms. The results were spectacular.

Now, you can't see the Moonshine Mash in the bowl as i covered it up with mushroom and broccoli goodness, but trust me--it's there. This was a quick and dirty meal--in under 30 minutes.

Umami Mushrooms with Moonshine Mash and Roasted Broccoli
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F

For the broccoli:
as much broccoli as you want cut into pieces (cut florets in half or quarters)
spritz of oil
salt and pepper
Place broccoli in a large roasting pan, spritz with oil and add salt and pepper. Set aside while oven preheats.

For the Moonshine Mash:
400g potatoes, cut into small chunks
1 cup sweetcorn (if frozen defrost a bit by running under hot water)
enough vegetable stock to cover the potatoes
6 TB vegan parmesan cheese (something like Good Carma would work great here or see recipe below) 
Vegan parmesan:
3 TB ground almonds
3 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Put the potatoes and sweetcorn in a saucepan and cover them with strong vegetable stock.
Make your parmesan cheese and set aside.

For the umami mushrooms:
1 white onion sliced into rainbows
as many mushrooms as you want--6-10 button mushrooms depending on size, thinly sliced
lots of garlic
tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp yeast extract like Marmite or miso

1. As the oven preheats, bring your potatoes and sweetcorn to the boil.
2. Start cooking your onion, slowly at a low temperature so that it will caramelise. I like to scoop out a little vegetable stock from the potatoes to cook it in. It makes the onions really flavourful.
3.When the oven is ready, roast your broccoli for 20 minutes until it is lightly charred.
 4. Meanwhile, when the potatoes and corn start to boil, turn the heat to medium low and continue to vigorously simmer.
5. When the onions are soft, add in the garlic and the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are browning and softened. Add a few more spoonfuls of vegetable stock from the potatoes and a good glug or two of tamari or soy sauce.
6. When the broccoli is nearly done, drain the potatoes and sweetcorn reserving about a half cup of the vegetable stock. Return it to the pan and mash until it forms a chunky mixture. If it seems too dry, add back in a bit of the veg stock you held back. Stir in your parmesan and mix well.
7. When the broccoli comes out of the oven, add your tsp of yeast extract or miso to the mushroom mixture and a little bit of the reserved stock you saved back from the potatoes and serve.

This was really good...the flavours complimented each other very well. Too bad you can't see the Moonshine Mash under there....but rest assured, it was delicious!