Mushroom Sausage with Marinated Peppers

Sometimes a recipe is born of nostalgia. Certainly, this Mushroom Sausage is no exception. This goes all the way back to memories of The Feast of San Gennaro, a week-long festival held in New York’s Little Italy every year. Melissa and I went all the time when we lived there. Now, like every festival or fair, there weren’t exactly many things offered that anyone could consider healthy, but let’s bypass that for the moment… What there was, was a lot of noise, a lot of color and a lot of sausages. At least one vendor on every stretch of the crowded city blocks was selling some kind of sausage, usually mixed with grilled peppers and onions.

And scads of people were buying them, lured by the spicy scents that permeated the streets. In fact, if you would have strung together all those sausages sold during that week from end to end, they probably would have reached across the entire borough of Manhattan. It was authentic Italian fare and that was what that festival was all about. Vegan was barely even a term at that point, let alone raw vegan.

A New Kind of Sausage

Things are a little different now and it’s hard not to think of these things differently too. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have sausages. Just that we have to make them with a whole new mindset. And that’s where mushrooms come in. It’s not for nothing that mushrooms have been hailed as the honorary meat of vegans. Myself, I don’t really identify them with meat but add some herbs and boy are they ever earthy, intoxicating and delicious. So I just knew that between some really good mushrooms and a great dehydrator, mushroom sausage was an attainable goal. And the rest was just too easy!

Ultimately, I know those old-time Italian vendors at the Feast of San Gennaro would have scoffed at my raw mushroom sausage and pepper idea but let’s face it: sometimes you can’t teach an old dog new tricks because they’re just not interested in learning them. But if anyone is interested, they’d find that this stuff is really, really good. And it’s not just good for you – because mushrooms are borderline magical for your health – but eating this prevents a lot of beautiful, sentient beings from ever becoming sausages themselves. And that’s something we can feel proud of.

RAW VEGAN RECIPE: Mushroom Sausage with Marinated Peppers

Mushroom Sausage

1 cup cashews

1 container of baby bella mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped fennel

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup chopped basil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp. fennel seeds, coarsely ground

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Place cashews in a food processor and process to a flour. Transfer the flour into a large bowl and put aside.

Put all other ingredients into food processor and blend until smooth. When mixture has reached the desired consistency, add the cashew flour. Pulse until flour is well incorporated.

Spoon out heaping tablespoons of mixture onto dehydrator trays lined with Teflex sheets and form into patties using wet hands.

Dehydrate for 10 hours or until patties are crisp outside and moist inside. Turn halfway through so they dehydrate evenly.

The mushroom sausage can be kept for up to five days in the fridge.

Marinated Peppers and Onions

1/2 red pepper, julienned fine

1/2 orange pepper julienned fine

1/4 yellow onion, julienned fine

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients in a shallow ceramic or metal dish.

Dehydrate for 1 hour at 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix ingredients again to saturate with the oil and dehydrate for 1 hour more so flavors meld.

Serve on top of mushroom sausages.