Vegan Stroga*not*

Meal planning around here tends to involve choosing three different dishes which we intend to go for a couple of dinners worth of servings each. I've recently been able to convince Matt that having a meat-free dish every week makes good economic, health and environmental sense, so there's usually a meat-less dinner option in our weekly dinner menu.

I've got a small selection of vegan cookbooks and cracked one open last week for inspiration. I hit the mother lode when I discovered a meatless take on traditional Beef Stroganoff, so I thought I'd try my hand at making one for tonight's dinner.

My version follows:

• olive oil, for the pan
• 3 leeks, washed, green parts trimmed off, and thinly sliced
• 2 large shallots, sliced lengthwise
• medium yellow onion, halved and sliced lengthwise
• 16 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• water
• ½ head of roasted garlic
• 12 oz. container of vegan sour cream
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• splash of apple cider vinegar
• dash of dry mustard

Sautée the onions, shallots and leek in the olive oil with salt until they have softened and begun to caramellize (mine went a bit over, but you couldn't tell from the finished product), add the mushrooms and continue sautéeing until the mushrooms start to lose some of their water. Add water to the pan and cook until you're satisfied that the flavours have melded (keep adding water to the pan as necessary so that the mixture doesn't dry out). Squeeze in the roasted garlic and mash it into the mixture. Add the sour cream substitute and stir well to incorporate. Season with the salt and pepper, and sparingly with the cider vinegar and dry mustard. Serve over noodles and be amazed that something that tastes this good doesn't have any meat in it.