Meaty Mushrooms

I try to go meatless a few dinners a week (much to my meat-loving husband’s chagrin). But he’s hard pressed to argue when the veg box arrives with gorgeous portobello mushrooms such as these:

Photo by my lovely sister, Emily

You can easily make these bad boys into portobello bugers. But why squish them between bread and slather them in cheese when they are so absolutely lovely? Instead, I decided to marinate and grill the heck out of them. Mostly because I wanted to keep them intact rather than super chopping, and with the holidays upon us… well, cutting carbs where I can makes me feel like I’m actually being healthy or something.

Portobello Salad

• 2 portobello mushrooms
• 3 T balsamic
• 1 T olive oil
• ½ t dried basil
• ½ t dried oregano
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• Salt and pepper

• Veggies for the salad (I had purple cabbage, leaf lettuce, and radishes handy.)

Remove the stems from the portobellos and chop.

Whisk the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Marinate the mushrooms for at least 30 minutes, turning over a few times to make sure everything is coated.

Grill portobellos for 5 minutes each side. If you live in a cold weather climate and have stupidly put your grill away for the season (sigh), you can do these on an electric grill or stick them under the broiler. I used my George Foreman, so lacked that on the grill flavor. But, since the Foreman cooks on both sides, it was an easy 5 minutes.

While the mushrooms are grilling, chop your lettuce and veggies. Toss them (don’t forget the chopped mushroom stems) with the leftover marinade. If your salad is a wee bit dry, add a bit of olive oil. Salt and pepper as necessary.

Serve the salad topped with the mushroom cap.

Results

A super easy one bowl type of meal. It could have used a bit of an extra crunch. Next time, I’ll add some toasted walnuts or pine nuts. And, this would definitely have tasted better if had been grilled over charcoal. But, Midwestern beggars can’t be choosers. (Quite frankly, I’m just glad that it’s still warm enough here in Chicago to not need a hat with ear flaps… because when it gets that cold and Paul busts out the ear flap hat, my tongue gets a bit sore from all the biting…)

Well, it certainly is healthy and made me happy to eat it.