Portabella Mushroom Rockefeller - Meatless Monday

Our dinner on Sunday night.
12 o'clock - Portabella Mushroom Rockefeller
6 o'clock - Israeli Couscous with Saffron, Olives and Vegetables

I saw a recipe in my new Vegetarian Times magazine titled Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller. I thought wow that sounds good. Let's see what's in it. What I was looking for was whether I had the items on hand.

I know I've said it before but I don't make special trips for ingredients. EVER! If I don't have the stuff on hand I don't make the recipe or I substitute. My theory on this is that if you are making several trips to the store for special ingredients that you don't keep on hand then you are just wasting money. Sure, if you are planning to make something that has ingredients that you don't normally keep on hand and add them to your weekly grocery list that's okay but if you've done your shopping for the week and that item is not on the list then it will have to wait until next week.

So with that on my mind I went through the list of ingredients in the magazine recipe.

1. Oyster mushrooms - I don't really keep these on hand. They are expensive and my local grocery store doesn't carry them. I'd have to go into the big city. I hate driving to the Central Market. Houston drivers are crazy.
   
2. Fennel - not on my list. I'm not really big on fennel. It tastes like licorice to me. I don't like licorice. Make that I hate licorice. This is the same reason that I don't use or grow tarragon. JR loves licorice but I have convinced him that it isn't good for him. Don't tell on me.
   
3. Shallots - these are just expensive and mild onions. I never buy them. They are really small which makes them hard to chop. But, the real reason is that with my exceptional knife skillz I am bound to take a finger off trying to chop these things.
   

Could I still make this recipe? Sure I could. With a few substitutions.
Okay, with a lot of substitutions.
Okay, with most everything substituted.
At this point the recipe was nothing like the one in the magazine with the exception of the process. I'll give you my recipe. Check out the April issue for the original.



Portabella Mushroom Rockefeller

1 large Portabella mushroom, gills removed and large chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 - 10 ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dried
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped sweet or green onion (I used green)
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon black truffle oil
4 small slices or 1 tablespoon per ramekin mozzarella cheese (any mild white melting cheese will do)

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 4 ramekins with olive oil. Equally divide and spread mushrooms in each ramekin.
  
• Thaw spinach, place in a clean dish towel or paper towels. Squeeze as much of the water out as you can. Split up between the ramekins. Covering the mushrooms.
• Whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, onions, garlic and truffle oil. If you don't have truffle oil substitute 1 tablespoon olive oil and a teaspoon of sage or tarragon. Divide and spread over spinach until well covered. Top with cheese.
• Bake 15 minutes. Change the oven to the broiler. Broil until brown and bubbly.
  

Makes 4 servings. About 250 calorie per serving and lots of fiber.

JR loved this so much that he had two servings. I have one left over for my lunch. Which is in two more hours. I'm not sure I can wait.

BTW, that couscous? Awesome! Also, from VT but I didn't have the ingredients so once again I improvised. The leftovers will be part of dinner tonight. I love a two-fer.

Give the mushrooms a try. If you don't like mushrooms (what is wrong with you) you'll hardly taste them in this recipe or you could substitute sliced zucchini or yellow squash. Eggplant would also be great.

Love,
M