• 1 teaspoon of butter or Better (see tips, below)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups sliced mushroom caps (about 1/3 pound)
• 3 1/4 cups vegetable stock (see tips, below)
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon golden miso (sweet white miso)
• 1 tablespoon dark miso (traditional red miso)
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (see tips, below)
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

preparation

1. Melt the butter and olive oil together in a large skillet, well sprayed with cooking spray, over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add the onion and sauté, stirring often, for about 4 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften. Raise the heat slightly and add the mushroom caps. Continue cooking, stirring often, for 5 to 6 minutes more.

2. Pour the vegetable stock into a medium saucepan or Dutch oven, preferably nonstick, and warm over medium-low heat.

3. Pour the wine into a food processor and add the garlic, flour, golden miso, dark miso, nutritional yeast, and mustard. Buzz together to form a paste.

4. Whisk the paste into the warmed, but not hot, vegetable stock. Gently bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Take a ladleful of this liquid and swirl it into the sautéed mushroom mixture, stirring well to scrape up any little flavorful bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the mushrooms, onions, and liquid to the pot with the stock, scraping the sauté pan clean.

5. Reduce the heat to very low and let the sauce simmer very gently, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. Correct the seasonings with salt (you’ll need little, if any, since miso is salty) and a lot of pepper. Serve hot, ladled over whatever good thing you are serving.

crescent dragonwagon shares her tips with epicurious:• To make “Better,” Dragonwagon combines in a food processor: 1 pound salted butter at room temperature, 2 1/2 cups macadamia nut, almond, or avocado oil, and 1 3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt, or more to taste. She puts the mixture into 3 or 4 ramekins, refrigerating one and freezing the rest. It’s just as delicious as butter, but more healthful, easier to spread, and better for sautéing because its smoking point is higher than that of plain butter.
• If you don’t have time to make your own vegetable stock, Dragonwagon recommends the dark vegetable stock by Kitchen Basics. Packaged or homemade, these stocks are certainly healthier than meat stocks, but as Dragonwagon notes in Passionate Vegetarian, a high-quality vegetable stock does not sacrifice flavor: “It is good stock that underpins the glossy, piquant, sweet, or hot sauces that transform tofu, tempeh, and seitan from plain basics to genuinely satisfying dishes that speak cogently of abundance, not deprivation or blandness for the sake of health.”
• Miso is a soft, highly concentrated, soy-based seasoning paste, and a standard item in Japanese kitchens. Generally, darker misos have a stronger, heartier, and saltier flavor than the more delicate and sweeter white misos. Miso is available in Asian markets and natural food stores.
• Nutritional yeast is a savory molasses-fed yeast that’s rich in B-complex vitamins and protein. It is widely available in bulk at natural food stores.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses (not robust or blackstrap)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup grated peeled ginger
• at least 2 Bosc pears maybe 3 or 4

• Accompaniment: whipped cream

preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan, knocking out excess.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.

Melt butter with water.

Beat together brown sugar and molasses with an electric mixer until combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well. Beat in flour mixture at low speed until just combined. Add butter mixture and ginger, beating just until smooth. Pour into cake pan.

Peel pear and cut into 3/4-inch pieces. Scatter over batter. Put most of them closer to the edges so the center of the cake cooks through. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes and then raise to 350 for 10. until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool slightly.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 sticks butter (I’ll keep experimenting with a little less)
• 2 cups sugar (all white or 1 c white and 1 c brown)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• at least 3 cups peeled, cored, and thickly sliced apples, 5 is probably better
• 1 cup raisins or cranberries
• you could try adding 3/4 cup of apple butter
• Vanilla ice cream for serving (optional)

preparation

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch tube pan. Sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.

2. Beat the oil and sugar together in a mixer with a paddle (or in a bowl with a hand mixer) for 5 minutes. Add the eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy. Stir in the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla, apples, and raisins and stir until combined.

3. Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before turning out.

4. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Cooking notes: 
If mixing the batter in a mixer, use a paddle attachment and turn the speed to low once you add the flour mixture, or the texture of the cake will be tough. Even better, mix the rest by hand.

The recipe called for Red Delicious or McIntosh apples, but I’d recommend a variety that’s brighter in flavor and firmer in texture, such as a Honeycrisp, Macoun, or Granny Smith.

The apple slices can be halved if you want a more uniform texture.

This cake can be eaten at any time of day, including breakfast. If you serve it for dessert, the recipe suggested a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. I prefer to whip 1/2 cup of heavy cream to soft peaks, then fold in crème fraîche to taste.