Bella Cooks: Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms w/ Prosciutto & Cannelini Beans

I found this recipe in the November issue of Self magazine, and knew I had to give it a try.  I made it tonight for my parents and sister, and they couldn’t stop raving.  The recipe takes a bit of prep, but it’s perfect to make when entertaining, because the actual cooking time is relatively short – less than 20 minutes.  Plus, your guests will be really impressed! It’s a hearty, satisfying meal that is perfect for fall and winter.

Nutrition Info:

(Note: the original recipe called for chicken broth, but I didn’t include it in the dish I made because I didn’t think it needed it).

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

First, clean the portabello mushrooms and remove the gills and caps.

Place a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed cookie sheet.  Put mushrooms cap up on the cookie sheet. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and brush half of it onto the mushroom caps.

Bake for 8 minutes.

While the mushrooms are cooking, start sauteeing shallot/garlic/onion mixture with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Add in rosemary.

The kitchen will start smelling heavenly at this point.

Add cannelini  beans that have been drained and rinsed, cubed prosciutto, and parsley.  Cook for 5 minutes. Remove mixture from pan and set aside.  Add spinach to skillet and wilt, about a minute.

At this point, the mushrooms will be ready.  Flip them over so you can fill them.  Brush with remaining olive oil/balsamic mixture.  Add spinach.  Then fill with bean/prosciutto mixture.

Combine panko breadcrumbs and cheese, and divide among mushrooms.

Coat with olive oil spray and bake for 10 minutes.  The panko breadcrumbs will turn golden and the kitchen will fill with such an amazing aroma that your dinner guests will ask if it’s almost ready.  Tell them it will be worth the wait.

It’s hard to believe that something that tastes this good and has this much flavor is only 265 calories!

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Bella Cooks: Grilled Portabella Mushrooms

Grilled Portabella Mushrooms with Balsamic Vinegar, Sauteed Onions, and Blue Cheese Crumbles

Lately I’ve been grilling most of my dinners, but I didn’t want to have the same old thing tonight.  There’s only so much chicken, salmon, or red meat you can eat, right?  Plus, when the weather warms up, I enjoy having some lighter fare at dinner. This recipe was perfect!  Quick, easy, and very satisfying.

Nutrition Info: As I made it, with blue cheese, sauteed onions, and some olive oil, each mushroom is about 205 calories, 25g carbs, 11g fat, and 6g protein.

Ingredients:

Portabella mushrooms
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
oregano (or any other fresh herb you like)
blue cheese crumbles
1/2 onion, sliced
minced garlic
salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

The first step is to wash the mushrooms, which are notoriously dirty.  It’s incredibly important to make sure you dry them completely, otherwise the mushroom will steam on the grill, and that’s not what we’re going for.  Place the mushrooms on a plate gill-side up, and add balsamic vinegar (about 1 TBSP).  Add a tiny drizzle of olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

While the mushrooms are slightly “marinating,” cut an onion into slices.  Add 1 tsp of olive oil to a pan, add onion slices, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Saute on medium to medium high heat.

Cover with a lid so that the steam can wilt the onions.

While the onions are sauteing, bring the mushrooms to the pre-heated grill and place them gill-side up.  I had the heat about medium high.  Close the lid and let them cook for about 5-8 minutes, depending on size.  Once the mushrooms begin to shrink in size and get a bit of water pooling in the gills, it’s time to turn them over.

Flip over and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Because of the olive oil, the grill may flame up, so be careful.  The water that has welled up in the mushroom will release when you flip it, so be ready for quite a bit of steam/smoke.  The scent from the BBQ made my neighbor ask what I was cooking.  It was divine!

I love the rustic look of these, especially with those grill marks.

While all of this grilling goodness is going on, do not forget about your onions, or they may go from “sauteed” to “blackened,” as mine almost did:

Even dark, these onions were such a nice accompaniment to the meal.

Once you’ve removed the mushrooms from the grill, put them back on the plate gill-side up, and add some blue cheese crumbles. (You can add any crumbled cheese you like – goat cheese or feta would also be great).

Next, top with sauteed onions.

You can pair the mushrooms with anything you’d like.  Last night my parents made the BEST grilled shrimp, so I had four of those, along with some tomatoes to round out the meal and add some additional color to the plate.

Doesn’t this look delicious?  The entire plate was 320 calories, 33 carbs, 12g fat, and 17g protein.  To increase the protein without adding too many calories, I would have added more prawns, if I had them.

Side tip: if you grill jumbo prawns like this, it’s best to leave the shell on so that the shrimp remain moist and juicy.  If you take the shells off before grilling, the shrimp will curl up and get really dry.   Thanks, Rachael Ray for this great tip.

This doesn’t have much to do with the meal, but since my sister gave me a set of these as part of my bday gift, I thought I’d show it off. (It’s filled with Crystal Light iced tea).

The mushroom tasted just like a steak, especially with the blue cheese and onions as topping.  It was smokey, robust, and just so good.  The nice thing is, it didn’t take long to make, but the outcome is incredibly impressive, even to your foodie friends. This recipe is definitely going into the rotation this summer.

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Cooking Frenzy!

Before I started SBD, I realized that if I was going to be successful, I’d need to stay organized and prepare most of the food ahead of time. I was a bit worried about this, because my life is really hectic right now.

Tonight I proved to myself that I could do this.

I started cooking up some of the boneless pork chops and 94/6 hamburger patties I bought. I put some pepper and garlic powder on them and then just put them on the George Foreman grill. I also chopped some more onion and garlic and sauteed them with some olive oil and cooked up the rest of the greens in the bag. (Enough for two meals). I figured I’d have one protein tonight and then bring one tomorrow night to my grad school class, and the other two could be eaten when I had to stay at school late for journalism and yearbook work nights on Wednesday and Thursday. After cooking all of this meat up, I decided I’d rather wait to eat it, because I wasn’t in the mood for it tonight.

Then I realized that I had bought that rottiserie chicken and I needed to use that up before too long, as well. I had also purchased some stir fry veggies that needed to be cooked before too long. I also remembered I had bought some cooked, frozen shrimp, so I decided to throw all of it together — the stir fry veggies, the roasted chicken, and the shrimp — into the pot that I had already cooked up the greens in. I chopped up more onion and added some sliced mushrooms that I had purchased. I added a bit of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. The whole thing took probably 10 minutes and I had enough food for tonight’s dinner, tomorrow’s dinner, and another lunch sometime this week. I do wish I would’ve had some low sodium soy sauce on hand, but it actually tasted pretty good without it.

Cooking everything at once has its benefits — one night of making a mess in the kitchen and making pots to clean. The downside is that the food might get a bit overdone by reheating it in the microwave. I tried to cook the meat about a minute before being “done” so that when I microwave it later, it will still be fairly juicy. We’ll see.

It feels great to know that I cooked enough tonight for the rest of the week. I should have no problem sticking with SB this week now that I’ve gotten the food organized.

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