I’ll start my blogger year by paying tribute to a very talented fellow food blogger of mine. Sofia from Little Vegan Artisan published a wonderful, vegan cookbook last year and today, I’ll recreate a dish from that book. I chose a beautiful dish featuring white polenta, mushroom, arugula and parsley. During my winter holidays in Ticino, I came across Paolo Bassetti‘s purple polenta, which I decided to incorporate in my version of Sofia’s dish. I hope she approves.
Mushroom sauce: Simmer button mushrooms, shallots, carrots, celeriac and parsnip in salted water until soft. Blend until smooth and add soy cream for an even silkier texture.
Duxelles: Finely chop button mushrooms and shallots. Sauté them in olive oil and season with fleur de sel and lemon juice. Add finely chopped fresh parsley.
Purple polenta: Steam one part purple polenta in three parts salted water until tender. Add one part soy cream and allow to cool in a shallow dish. With a cookie cutter, cut differently sized circles.
Parsley crema: Blend 15 g fresh parsley with 100 ml water, a dash of lemon juice, fleur de sel to your liking and 0.5 g xanthan until thickish.
Assembly: On a circle of sauce, arrange the polenta circles and duxelles. Decorate with pan-seared oyster mushrooms, parsley crema, violet petals and arugula.
