Mushrooms & Leeks in Riesling Velouté

This recipe is intended to act as a playful vegan interpretation to the classic Alsatian dish Coq au Vin. I’ve even elected to serve the dish with wide tagliatelle noodles – incorporated into the noodles for the more modern take, or alongside the noodles for a throwback 70’s kind of look and feel.

There are a few items that are important to gather or make ahead of time. I use a dry Riesling wine from the Alsace region of France. Any other dry Riesling wine will work effectively in this recipe but avoid anything that is on the sweet side. Also, a strong vegetable broth is necessary to provide balance to the considerable mushroom flavor. I suggest making one yourself…which is easily accomplished up to a week in advance. Here’s how I prepare vegetable broth.

I elected to grill my mushrooms on a grill pan heated on my stovetop to achieve a smokiness that is hard to get using other cooking methods. The recipe includes all the necessary steps. To save time (and create a lot less smoke in your kitchen), you can also elect to forego those instructions and sauté or roast the mushrooms. Just make sure to use high heat and try to extract as much liquid out of the mushrooms as possible. Cutting the mushrooms into smaller sizes helps if using other cooking methods. The mushrooms can be prepared a day or two in advance. This guide to cooking mushrooms I published last year may be helpful.

Another word about the mushrooms… I often use a variety of simple to obtain mushrooms for this recipe. These could include King Oyster Mushrooms, Porcini, Oyster Mushrooms and Portobello mushrooms. I use simple white button (cremini) mushrooms in the additional step of pureeing mushrooms with the hot broth.

Once the broth is made and the mushrooms are prepared, the preparation of the dish is relatively simple and only takes about 45-60 minutes.

Difficulty: moderate
Yield: makes about 4-6 servings