One of my favorite vegan restaurants in Berkeley, California is Sanctuary Bistro. This elegant fine-dining establishment wows guests the moment they walk in the door with rustic decor, brick walls lined with local artwork, and twinkly hanging lights. And that’s before they try the food—starting with an amuse-bouche (bite-sized hors d’œuvres served gratis from the chef).
Every dish I’ve tried from Sanctuary Bistro brings my taste buds to new realms of flavor and dimension I’ve never explored before. Chef Barry Horton is a classically trained chef who spent years refining his craft at The Stanford Inn, a well-known vegan eco-resort in Mendocino. There he learned to embrace organic, sustainable, vegan, locally harvested ingredients, which grew to be quite a passion. Two kiddos later, Chef Barry and his wife Jennifer opened his restaurant Sanctuary Bistro and published Sanctuary Bistro’s Recipes for Everyday Living Cookbook.
We’re thrilled to share one of their favorite recipes from the cookbook with you! A delightful vegan appetizer for all the mushroom lovers of the world. Enjoy!
- 1-2 tablespoon(s) olive oil
- 3 cups crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced (slice and use stems in recipe as well)
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
- 20 crimini caps
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon yellow miso
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- wax paper
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake mushroom caps (de-stemmed) for 8 - 10 minutes.
- In a saute pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add mushrooms and stems and cook until tender, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside, let cool.
- Place mushrooms and remaining ingredients, except the caps, in a food processor and blend until evenly incorporated. Occasionally scrape sides while continuing to blend. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Stuff the baked mushroom caps with the mushroom walnut pâté and serve!
- This mushroom walnut pâté can also be served up on crackers or crostini instead of in baked mushroom caps.
Recipe by Barry Horton from Sanctuary Bistro’s Recipes for Everyday Living cookbook by Executive Chef Barry Horton and Jennifer Jones Horton. This post is not sponsored and all thoughts are my own. For your convenience, this article contains Amazon affiliate links which help us keep the lights on here at World of Vegan.
