Leave Room for Mushrooms

Portobellos.  The giant mushroom of happiness (sort of like a blue bird, but much tastier).  A stable in the diet of all my vegetarian friends, and a regular in our own household.  I love how absolutely diverse they are, along with that meaty, hint-of-earth texture and taste.  Here's a simple recipe made even faster care of Garden Harvest spice blends.

Lazy Pesto Portobellos

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 10-15 minutes

Serves: Depends on how much you make!

Requires: A love of goat cheese and basil, but no fancy kitchen doohickeys.

• portobello mushrooms, cleaned and dried (Rachel Ray says you should never run portobellos under the tap to wash, but insists the best way to wash them is using a damp rag.  I usually remember this after I've run them under the tap.  If you wash yours, make sure to dry them really good.)
• chevre goat cheese (a stable in my household; I used the leftovers from my chicken dish.)
• basil - either fresh and chopped or pureed, about 1/2 tbsp worth per mushroom
• garlic - either fresh or pureed - if using fresh, you'll want to cook it a bit before piling onto your mushrooms
• pine nuts

1. Heat a pan over medium-high heat.  Use a papertowel to wipe a layer of olive oil onto the pan.  This helps prevent oil splatters and keeps the food lighter.
2. Remove the stems if you like and coat your mushrooms with everyone's friend and our guest star from step one - Olive Oil.
   
3. Brown your mushrooms on both sides, about three or four minutes on each side, until nice and cooked through.  Some people like their portobellos a little less well done, so you could reduce to two minutes on each side.
4. Now, before adding any toppings, flip your mushrooms gill side down (if they're not already there) to drain off the excess liquid, then flip them gill side up.  Reduce heat to medium.  Using the back of a spoon, sprinkle/smear the garlic over the mushrooms.  This is to taste; I use about a tsp of pureed or half a clove of fresh per mushroom.  Next, sprinkle/smear your mushroom with the basil.  Like I mentioned in the ingredient list, I find about a 1/2 tbsp works best, but add to your tastes.  Finally, add as much goat cheese as you like to the mixture.  I've been told you can slide them under the broiler to brown the cheese, but I've never done this.
   
5. I like to toast my pine nuts, so while adding the other ingredients to my mushrooms, I start them browing in the pan.  I then removed the mushrooms and cooked the pine nuts to a golden brown before putting a healthy number on top of our mushrooms.  Pair with a nice salad and you've got a tasty, quick meal!