This little rant I am about to go on has absolutely nothing to do with food, by the way. But the beauty of a blog: I can talk about whatever the heck I want. I have decided to boycott voting this year because I am so utterly annoyed with the amount of election campaign commercials I have to see. And they are all just so ridiculous. No one talks about what good they can do, they all just point the finger at someone else's mistakes. And I am really supposed to believe that all this crap is true. Or that it was recent, more importantly?? UGH! So frustrating. To think about the amount of money they spend on commercials literally makes me angry. I think I would vote for the candidate that before the campaign season began, took all their campaign money, and donated it to the local city, county or state government (who in California are all in a world of hurt). They create a free page on facebook and told everyone about themselves. That's it. Done. I would happily vote for them. So stupid.
Ok, I'm done venting. :) Now back to important things, like food. And cheese.
It's no secret I love mushrooms. Not as much as cheese, don't be silly. But I do love them. I don't cook with Portabella mushrooms nearly as often as I would like, as they are a little expensive, and to be honest, a lot of the time, I don't know what to do with them.
There is an amazing Italian restaurant in Ann Arbor called Palio. It's probably my favorite restaurant of all time. And they have this dish where they take a portabella mushroom, top it with goat cheese, a slice of tomato, and then a grilled fillet, all surrounded by pearl onions and potatoes! It's amazing! So last night we had some steaks and inspired by this dish, I made a little side dish using portabellas.
I happen to LOVE goat cheese. It's one of my favorites, even though I don't eat it all that often. It has such a distinct flavor and I always love cooking recipes that call for goat cheese and I obviously get overly excited when I see them! Don't judge. I know I have a problem. I embrace my cheese obsession.
Cheese Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 7
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 3
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 2
Layered Portabella Mushrooms
4 portabella mushrooms
8 slices of tomato
Goat cheese
Dried Basil
Butter
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt/Pepper
Add 1-2 Tbl butter to large frying pan over medium heat. Remove stems from mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and saute mushrooms, whole, in pan. When soft, turn off heat on stove, and flip all mushrooms bottom side up in pan. Add spoonful of goat cheese to each mushroom. Once softened from heat of mushroom, spread cheese to make even layer over mushroom. Add 2 slices, side by side, of tomato on top of cheese. Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar to top of tomato and then sprinkle with a little dried basil. Serve immediately.
These are suuuuuper simple. And very rich, delicious, flavor. For vegetarians, it's the closest thing to a steak you can get. In my opinion. And don't be stingy with the goat cheese: it's what gives this dish the overall rich, creamy flavor.
YUM!
Random: Palio restaurant is owned by a group called Main Street Ventures, who has multiple amazing restaurants (Palio, Real Seafood, Chophouse, Gratzi, etc.). They have a cookbook that has recipes from all their restaurants that is pretty impressive and I highly recommend it: http://www.msventures.com/cookbook.html
