Meatless Monday: Mushroom Tacos with Quick Carrot Escabeche

Taco night is a tradition dating back to the early days of the Dad and my's courtship. Since I'm leaning more towards menu items of the vegan persuasion, I began to fear that the Dad was languishing at the thought of missing out on his weekly taco fix. But never fear, the mighty portobello mushroom is here!

These are super simple to make - sliced mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers are tossed with a marinade of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and a dash or two of your favorite hot sauce. Then they're cooked until tender and served up warm on corn tortillas. I dressed these with a slice or two of fresh avocado and my new favorite taco condiment, carrot escabeche. Okay, well, technically this is more of a quick pickled carrot than a true escabeche but it added just the right zing to these mushroom tacos. And since it's a quick pickle, it's perfectly suited for jazzing up any weeknight meal.

Quick Carrot "Escabeche"

1/2 cup rice vinegar

3 tablespoons turbinado or raw sugar

hot sauce to taste

shredded carrots*

sliced onions*

*This recipe will make enough pickling liquid to do about 3 or 4 carrots worth of "escabeche" so it's really up to you as to how many carrots and onions you use. You can also add jalapenos to the mix, in which case I would skip the hot sauce.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine vinegar with the sugar and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook until all of the sugar has been dissolved. Remove from heat and add hot sauce and stir.

Place carrots and onions in a non-reactive bowl (glass or plastic) and pour pickling liquid over them. There should be enough liquid to cover the carrots comfortably. Allow it to set on the counter for 15 minutes or so. The longer it lingers, the more "pickled" it will get but 15 minutes seems to be a good enough time to get that crisp, tart taste you're after.

To serve, I drain off the pickling liquid and sprinkled liberally on my mushroom tacos.