Grilled Portabello Mushroom Sandwich with Basil Mustard Sauce

This is a recipe from the spa cuisine collection of SpaIndex.com: Guide to Day Spas and Stay Spas and was created in connection with the mustard festival held every year in Napa Valley.

The recipe is easy, fast, and rich -- it has an intense taste which is necessary when you are counting calories. As the recipe states, only a tiny bit of the sauce is needed or it's too rich. I used about a tablespoon on my sandwich and although it was delicious, it was too much and I scraped some off. The thin schmear was much better.

I like the idea of using small mushrooms and buns as "mushroom sliders" but for my version, I had a large portabello and a ciabatta roll, so I used those.

This is also an easy but thoughtful sandwich to make for vegetarians which will come in handy this holiday season when everyone else is eating leftover turkey sandwiches. Grill some mushrooms and set them aside for your vegetarian guests so you can make this for them day after Thanksgiving.

Get the entire recipe and tips by clicking the link above. This is my synopsis:

1 mushroom cap, brushed with garlic olive
1 bun, brushed with garlic olive
1 tablespoon of mayo
Splash of lemon juice
Dab of Dijon mustard
handful of chopped basil
salt, pepper, and cayenne

Grill bun and mushroom 4 min each side until cooked. Mix remaining ingredients, top bun with basil mustard sauce, and serve.

Mujudarra: Rice and Lentils

There is nothing "pretty" or food porny about Mujudarra, a Middle Eastern rice and lentil dish, but I do hope you'll try it anyway.

I've read numerous posts claiming it be one of the easiest, least expensive, common, humble and yet greatest side dishes ever, and you know what? That's not too far off the mark. I can't find anything negative to say about Mujudarra except that it's the ugly stepsister to a beautiful rice pilaf or cous cous dish. It doesn't make for a pretty presentation.

My version was so simple and fast because I took advantage of some staples from Trader Joe's which I'm never without: Frozen rice and Steamed Lentils. Those bags of frozen or jasmine rice are quite convenient, and while cooking lentils is not difficult, I really enjoy the lentils which are vacuum packaged after being steamed, fully cooked, imported from France. Delicious, and a fast protein source.

You will likely read the list of ingredients and wonder what all the fuss is about. I certainly did, but I'm telling you, all the bloggers are right: This dish is really perfect just as written. There is something wonderful which happens to these humble ingredients when you cook them together.

MUJUDARRA

1 large onion (your favorite type)

2 cups of cooked rice (your favorite type)

2 cups of cooked lentils (your favorite type)

Olive Oil

Chicken or Vegetable Stock

Salt and Pepper

Plain Yogurt (optional)

Coat a very deep skillet with a good amount of olive oil. Thinly slice an onion and add to the oil, slowly sweating and caramelizing until it is very soft, and fully browned. Don't rush this step -- the darker and softer it is, the sweeter it will be -- a key component to this dish. To the oily skillet, add 2 cups of cooked lentils and stir together. Add 2 cups of rice and stir together very gently. Add salt and pepper to taste throughout the process. When thoroughly combined, slowly add chicken or vegetable stock (approx 1/4 to 1/2 cup) until the dish is moistened, but not soupy. Heat the dish through. Serve the mujudarra with a dollop of yogurt, which is traditional.

Notes: I used 1 package of Trader Joe's frozen Jasmin rice, and added it to the warm onions and lentils, stirring just until it was no longer frozen, and then added the stock. For the lentils, I used 1 package of Trader Joe's fully cooked imported French Steamed Lentils. The first night I tried it, I skipped the dollop of yogurt because I forgot about it, but I was so taken with just easting this warm and comforting side dish, that I didn't miss it. A few nights later when I was having leftovers, I remembered the yogurt and tried a dollop of Greek Yogurt. It does add a nice tangy sour cream quality, but I found it just as good without. I also thought it was just as good cold as hot, and as good on day 3 as day 1. I'll make this again, absolutely.

I've seen variations on the spelling of this dish, and even some calling for wheat bulgar instead of rice. This is an excellent side dish, and I hope you'll try it in this traditional method first, and then go search for the types with all sorts of add-ins (proteins, nuts, berries) which are probably very good as well.

Here are some related posts:

The post which got me thinking I had to make this dish:

I take it back about not being pretty. Desert Candy makes her look much nicer:

http://desertcandy.blogspot.com/2009/08/mujadara.html

A version by Orangette, where she cooks the lentils and rice from scratch if you want to go that route:

http://orangette.blogspot.com/2007/03/into-pantry.html

Another version which suggests Mark Bittman has done it before, too!

http://www.shecookshebakes.com/2008/06/dinner-mujadara.html

My favorite salad ever: Austrian Lentil Salad

I first tasted a version of this salad in 1990, when my boss's wife, who is from Vienna, Austria, brought a large container of her version to my wedding reception, because she said it's a traditional salad to serve at weddings and promises fertility.

She was pouting when no one ate the salad. I thought "What did she expect, she brought Lentils to my wedding reception!"

Fast forward nearly 20 years, and I had a chance to eat her salad again, and my tastes have matured to the point where I thought it was incredibly tasty. I became an instant convert. I updated and significantly improved upon her recipe (she only used 4 ingredients -- lentils boiled with bay leaf, a simple herbal mustard vinaigrette, and minced onion), and now, I am never without a container of this salad in my fridge. I make it every Sunday, and it lasts all week, holds up extremely well in lunches, and fortunately, did not make me fertile, which is a very good thing, because her recipe lasted longer than the marriage.

I don't know what makes a lentil dish "Austrian" but she claims it was a childhood dish she had many times in Vienna. My version is not likely Austrian, but is certainly inspired by hers.  I use Trader Joe's ingredients primarily, which included steamed and cooked lentils, but you can easily cook your own lentils and proceed with those after you've done so.

AUSTRIAN LENTIL SALAD

Base Salad

1 package of Trader Joe's Steamed Lentils (from the refrigerated section)

1 package of Trader Joe's Beluga Lentils (from the pasta section)

1/2 very finely diced red or white onion -or- 1 shaved shallot (shown in this version)

1-2 very finely chopped carrots

Snipped Italian Parsley

The zest of one lemon (use all the juice, below)

Zest an entire lemon into a large bowl. Add both packages of lentils, the diced carrots and onions, and the parsley. Toss all ingredients thoroughly and set aside.

Dressing

The basic dressing is a lemon vinaigrette, but you should feel free to use your favorite oil & vinegar dressing, being certain to add the mucho lemon zest and lemon juice to it, to create the unique flavor. Here is my tried and true method:

1/2 cup of Trader Joe's Olive Oil

1/4 cup of Trader Joe's Seasoned Rice Vinegar (sometimes I use a bit of rice vinegar, and a bit of cider vinegar, when I want it tarter)

1 dollop of TJ's Dijon Mustard

The juice of 1 whole lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all in a blender cup to emulsify, and pour over the lentil salad. Toss thoroughly, adjust seasonings to taste, and serve chilled. This salad requires no cooking (unless you've cooked your own lentils) keeps in the fridge all week, and makes a wonderful, healthy, high protein, high fiber very satisfying lunch.

In fact, I'd never once thought I'd say this about a salad, especially one with lentils, but I'll stand in front of my open fridge door at night and eat this salad right from the container, with a spoon. If I worked at a TJ's, I would make this easy dish and demonstrate it, to convert people to the wonder of lemony lentils as a salad.

Personal note to my sister, Weezie: Aren't you proud of me?! I finally figured out a use for my obsessive acquisition of vinegar and oil even though I've always hated oil & vinegar dressing!

Hippie Quiche: Zucchini Cheese Pie Bake

This is a recipe for Zucchini Pie by my pal Liz in New York, who bakes it and serves it in her bento box lunches quite frequently. It's a cross between a veggie loaf and a healthy quiche. Since I made chick pea flour zucchini bread earlier in the week, I had another zucchini waiting to be used, more chick pea flour of course, and her recipe in mind. I'm finding the chick pea flour really tasty, and the high protein and fibre is an added bonus.

This would be both a good vegetarian main dish and a good side dish as well, actually. I served it with a piece of grilled rainbow trout, so this acted as my "vegetable stuffing on the side." If you're planning to grow zukes in your garden this year, take note. This will help use up your bounty.

This is a hard to fail recipe. She uses more or less cheese depending on what she has, more or less veggies, depending on what she has, and less oil. You really just need enough liquid to bind the batter together. When it looks gloppy and moist and the veggies are coated, it's ready to go into the oven. This is what I put into mine:

CAN'T SCREW IT UP ZUCCHINI PIE

1 large thinly sliced zucchini

1 grated carrot

1 small onion chopped

1 small diced yam

1 handful of torn oyster mushrooms

1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup fine ground corn flour

1/3 cup chick pea flour

1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese

1 rogue slice of Lite Jarlsberg cheese from the deli drawer

1/4 cup canola oil

2 egg whites and 1 whole egg, beaten

1 handful of grated parmesan

1 handful of chopped fresh herbs (I used basil, parsley, thyme, oregano and chives)

1 teaspoon baking powder

A few liberal shakes of Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle and Mural of Flavor seasoning (basically more herbs and garlic salt)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Spoon zucchini mixture into a 10 inch glass pie or quiche plate that has been coated with vegetable cooking spray. I used an IKEA loaf pan -- they are quite longer than your average loaf pan by a wide margin so it spread out as shallow as a pie pan and worked fine. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

Quesadilla Casserole

We're using up some pantry supplies tonight, whipping up a casserole of Tex Mex flavors and emptying the larder at the same time. I wanted to try a new salsa I found at Trader Joe's -- Salsa del Cabo. It's very different in appearance -- very dark brown (almost black, really -- my camera makes it more brown/orange than it actually is). Quite tasty, with a deeply "roasty" flavor, not very hot at all (which I prefer).

So this is what we're hacking tonight: A can of Amy's Organic Black Bean Chili, a bit of tomato sauce, some green chilis, and some canned black beans (not shown).

I wanted a refried bean texture, but had no refried beans, so I whirled the can of black bean chili in a bullet blender cup with about 4 oz of tomato sauce. as well generous amounts of cumin, cilantro, garlic, and chili powder, until I had a thick, creamy, spreadable "bean dip."

Meanwhile, I sprayed a deep cake pan with vegetable oil spray.

In the cake pan, I layered one flour tortilla (directly from my freezer, actually), spread it with my bean dip, scattered more black beans, and sprinkled it with cheese. Oh darn! Typing this, I see I forgot to use my fresh green onions. Oh well.

Repeat. Layered another tortilla, more dip, beans, and cheese, and repeated it for three full layers.

On the top layer, I scattered the most amount of cheese to create a crust.

I baked in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cut into wedges, topped with a dollop of sour cream, a dollop of guacamole, and a spoonful of Salsa del Cabo.

Quite tasty! The tortillas went in frozen, but cooked well and were crispy on the edges. I'm hoping this holds well for lunch tomorrow. This happens to be a vegetarian version. It would adapt well to add anything you wished, including rice, meat, avocado, and more.

Leek and Carrot Mashed Potatoes with Pot Roast on the Side

The simple supper above, Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes, and caramelized Leeks and Carrots, has spawned the best potatoes, EVER. What you see above was night one: I had a small knob of pot roast, cooked, to defrost and eat for supper, and a frozen bowl of leftover mashed potatoes. Perfect comfort food for a cold and foggy night. Brrr. I quickly heated the pot roast and potatoes, but I wanted the traditional veggies with it. I quickly shaved a carrot and a pre-trimmed and cleaned leek with a handheld mini mandolin (a $1.00 gadget from Daiso Yen Store in San Francisco -- the most beloved tool in my kitchen) into paper thin pieces, and roasted them with garlic butter in order to serve them along side my supper.

As I began eating, I quickly gobbled up the roasted veggies and ignored the pot roast. They were crispy and delicious. On top of the potatoes, they were sublime. This gave me the idea to recreate the specialty mashed potatoes -- Mashers with Leeks and Carrots -- the next night.

On night TWO, below, I mixed it up and the pot roast became completely secondary.

It was Potato Night! They were, in a word, spectacular. That's why it became "pot roast on the side" because by then, roast-schmoast. Pass the potatoes!

Using my mandolin, I shaved one leek and one carrot, paper thin, and sprinkled with seasonings, a knob of garlic butter, and a splash of olive oil.

I roasted the veggies at high temp until they were golden brown, black in some parts, and the leeks were crispy.

I heated and stirred my mashed potatoes until they were creamy and warm, and then gently folded in the veggies, mixing, but not beating or being too harsh, because I didn't want the veggies to break up. I wanted them to nestle inside the potatoes. And, just because I used butter and oil on the veggies, is no reason not to add more butter on top of the finished product. Whatyoutalk? Above, a macro shot of the best potatoes on the planet. I mean it. Serious, SmackDown Good.

Another shot, just because.

And another shot, with thyme, just because. Because it's so damn good. Make some and call them Kate's Potatoes. You'll thank me.

Barefoot Bloggers: Pasta, Pesto and Pea Salad

For my first participation in the fairly new Barefoot Bloggers group, we made Ina Garten's Pasta Salad with Pesto and Peas.

I wasn't expecting this to be an interesting dish for me -- pasta and pesto and peas -- eh, it's okay. For that reason, I actually made a couple of salads tonight, to take to work for my lunch tomorrow. While I wasn't wowed by these traditional flavors, I was pleased with the result of combining traditional pesto with spinach, lemon and mayonnaise. The heavy, oily flavor of just straight pesto on pasta was made more light and lively by mixing in pureed spinach and adding a bit of lemon juice and mayo. I liked it well enough to use it as both a dressing for leaf salads in the future, and a more lively-than-pesto pasta sauce.

Original recipe here, but I modified it by removing a fair amount of the fats (I didn't toss the pasta with oil, and used much less mayo than called for, and I note most of my Barefoot Bloggers did the same), and I could easily scale the recipe down for two persons by just eyeballing it. Finally, rather than tossing it with additional pine nuts, I used chopped walnuts.

My lunch tomorrow: A trio of salads, including Shrimp Louie, Pasta with Peas, and Broccoli Coleslaw, with a few crackers and tangerines.

About this challenge:
The Barefoot Bloggers join forces and cook or bake recipes by Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten each month, chosen in order by members, and present them for discussion on two Thursdays each month. Our Next Challenge: Ina's Parmesan Chicken. Hungry? Please join us at the table!