My son ordered an impressive shrimp cocktail at the Saltgrass Restaurant and I decided I had to make a WFPB version. I used oyster mushrooms for their tenderness. Hen of the wood mushrooms would work extremely well but are a challenge to find. Lobster mushrooms would be the ultimate mushroom but these are extremely pricey!

Image of mushroom cocktails with cocktail sauce

Mushroom Cocktail with Seafood Cocktail Sauce

Butter lettuce lines the glass that is filled with plump mushrooms. It has a little seafood cocktail sauce plus some fresh diced heirloom tomatoes, onion and basil. The sauce has a kick of horseradish and cayenne hot sauce does not overwhelm the mushrooms!
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Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Chill15 minutes
Servings4
AuthorSnap Pea Sheep

Ingredients

  • 12 Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
  • 4-6 Oz Oyster, Hen of the woods (Maitake) or other mushrooms You want a silky soft mushroom that is not too earthy
  • 1 Heirloom Tomato
  • 1/2 Sweet Vidalia onion
  • 1 Fresno Chili
  • 4 Preserved lemon slices
  • 6-8 Fresh basil leaves
  • 4 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice
  • Himalayan Salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 Tbsp Seafood Cocktail sauce Use premade seafood sauce or make my recipe below.
  • 4-8 Fresh lemon slices For garnish

Seafood cocktail sauce

  • 1/2 Cup Organic ketchup
  • 2 Tbsp Freshly grated horseradish
  • 4 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce I use organic Wan Ja San
  • 1/2 Tsp Cayenne hot sauce of choice
  • Himalayan Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Rinse lettuce leaves. Use 2 per cocktail glass to line the glass then finely chiffonade the remaining lettuce and divide among the glasses.
  • Clean mushrooms. Place in boiling water to soften the mushrooms. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Drain and place in an ice bath to stop the cooking process and chill the mushrooms.
  • Finely dice sweet onion into a 1/4" dice.
  • Peel tomato(s) and remove the hard core. Dice into a 1/2" dice.
  • Remove stem and seeds from a fresno chili. Finely dice into a 1/4" dice or finer.
  • Rinse salt from preserved lemon and chop into a 1/4" dice.
  • Chiffonade the basil leaves. (Stack, roll up then thinly slice through crosswise to form long ribbons. You can cut the ribbons into smaller pieces if you prefer).
  • Add together the onion, tomato, basil, preserved lemon, fresno chili, and lemon juice. Mix together, add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Make Seafood Cocktail sauce - or use pre-made sauce.
  • Place 2 tbsp seafood sauce in the bottom of each glass (on chopped lettuce). Divide mushrooms evenly among the glasses on top of the sauce.
  • Divide the salsa (including lemon juice) among the cocktail glasses.

Seafood Cocktail Sauce

  • Finely grate fresh horseradish. Add ingredients together. Taste and adjust horseradish, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

Image of Snap pea sheep logo
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
If you don't care for mushrooms, use artichoke hearts! This is makes a great appetizer!
To make my seafood cocktail sauce, I start with my own Horseradish Ketchup and add lemon juice, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. You can use a good low sugar, organic ketchup to save time.
I generally make my own hot sauce as well.
Place Tabasco or cayenne peppers in a bottle, add a little salt and pour hot vinegar over the peppers to cover.  It's good in about two weeks and stays good for 6 months or so. As the vinegar level goes down, just add more. 
The preserved lemons add a little zing to this cocktail. If you don't have any, just leave them out. They are super easy to make and very versatile!
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