Oyster Mushroom Po'Boy Sandwich

Oyster mushrooms are one of those exotic fungi that I usually toss together with other plebian mushrooms because I don't know anything else to do with them. All that changes with this po'boy - crispy oven toasted mushrooms with lettuce and a spicy aioli sauce. I may never be the same again!

Growing like shingles from a main stem, oyster mushrooms are gorgeous to look at and even more delicious to eat. Sure you can toss them in a stir-fry, but this recipe looks decadent and really isn't, as long as you don't bathe the bread in the aioli!

While this version is vegetarian, using cheese and eggs in the batter and breading, you can easily veganize it by using nutritional yeast in the breading instead of Asiago cheese and egg replacer or a slurry of ground flax seeds for the eggs. Vegan aioli is easy to duplicate if you add pressed garlic to vegannaise. I added a few drops of my favorite hot sauce but that's up to you.

Sweet Potato Latkes

Sweet potatoes are one of those powerhouse vegetables that I am often stumped about how to incorporate into a dish. There's sweet potato fries - oven baked to goodness - but my attempts have been less than encouraging. And sweet potato stew with peanut butter and cilantro inspired by African nut stews are also good. But I finally found my favorite (and quickest!) way to prepare sweet potatoes, latkes.

Latkes are simply potato pancakes - grated potatoes with some added flavors, pan fried to crisp golden deliciousness! While I love latkes made with russet potatoes, sweet potato latkes are even better because you don't have to squeeze the moisture out of them as is necessary with latkes made with russets. Whoo hoo for simple!

In this version I added some feta cheese, capers and parsley and the were quite a hit with adults and teenagers alike. But you can make them sweeter - diced apple, chopped walnuts, chevre - would make a great combo as well. Be creative!