Portobello Mushroom Wellington

I love cooking for our friends and family and love having people over at the house. The hardest part is figuring out what to make! A lot of people have dietary restrictions nowadays, either preferences or allergies. I want to make sure my guests have something they will enjoy, but I also don't want to make a separate dish for everyone.

When people tell me they don't eat meat, I often turn to mushrooms. Mushrooms are filling, tasty and it's full of flavor. When talking to one of our non-meat-eating friends, I find out that she doesn't like mushrooms either!!! I was so shocked! She talked about not liking the woodiness of mushrooms.

I think the reason why she doesn't like mushrooms is the very reason I love mushrooms. Both Mr. G and I have a great love for mushrooms. I love mushrooms of every kind, I eat mushrooms at least once a week. It just goes to show that food preferences are so subjective. The best meal of my life could taste like complete crap to you. I love that! To celebrate diversity in tastes and preferences, I made these portobello mushroom wellingtons!

The recipe comes from Delicious Dishes. It's absolutely delicious (if you LOVE mushrooms). It is bursting with mushroom flavors. I love the little bits of mushroom and cheese with the meatiness of the portobello mushroom. It's so incredibly filling, I promise you won't miss the meat! Here's the recipe.

Vegetarian Portobello Wellington
from Delicious Dishes
Serves 4

4 medium-sized portobello mushrooms, washed and gills scraped out
4 cups crimini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 large cups tender baby spinach
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, minced and divided
4 garlic cloves, minced and divided
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tablespoon Seasoned Bread Crumbs
1 cup freshly grated Gruyere Cheese
Pinch of Crushed Red Pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry dough (or two, depending on how big your portobello mushrooms are)

egg wash: 1 egg whisked together with 1 tablespoon water

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees f.

2. Lightly brush the portobello mushrooms with olive oil and dust lightly with kosher salt. Bake the portobello mushrooms for 15 minutes cap side up and 10 minutes cap side down. Once done baking place mushrooms on a paper towel so all the extra moisture will be absorbed. Set aside.

3. In a large skillet, saute 1 shallot and 2 minced cloves of garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add the baby spinach leaves. Stir to coat the spinach and lightly salt and pepper to taste, once the spinach looks like it is wilting, add the balsamic vinegar. Once the leaves are wilted, remove from skillet and place contents into a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and saute 2 minced shallots and 2 minced garlic cloves. After about 1 minute, add in the chopped mushrooms and lightly season with salt and pepper and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Continue to saute the mushrooms on medium heat until all of the moisture is cooked out and the mushrooms are soft. Remove from heat, add the mushrooms to the spinach mixture. Mix together and let cool. Once mixture is cooled toss in the bread crumbs, toasted pine nuts and Gruyere cheese. Mix well.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one sheet of the puff pastry. Cut into 4 equal pieces (if you have really large portobello mushrooms then you might need to use the extra sheet of puff pastry). Equally fill each portobello mushroom cap with the spinach and mushroom mixture. Place one piece of puff pastry over a filled portobello mushroom. Gently turn the mushroom over so the puff pastry is now on your working surface and the mushroom is upside down. Lightly brush the egg wash around the outer edges of the puff pastry. Place the opposite corners of the puff pastry to wrap around the portobello and then bring the other two corners up. Gently bring the sides up to completely cover the mushroom. Once all is secure, place the seamed side down onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Lightly brush the top of the wellington with a little bit of egg wash, lightly score the top and dust a little bit of salt and pepper on top.

5. Bake the wellingtons for about 25-30 minutes or until the puff pastry is nice and golden brown. Serve immediately.

Matar Paneer

I made this the other night with some left over paneer I had from making palak paneer. Palak paneer is absolutely my favorite Indian dish. It looks absolutely disgusting, like green mush with white cubes...but it's so delicious. I haven't found a palak paneer recipe that I'm absolutely in love with yet, and until then, I won't post it.

Anyway, on to the dish at hand. I made matar paneer because I needed to use up the left over paneer and also because we *HEART* Indian food. I found this recipe from Christie's Corner. This is such an easy dish to make, it came together in less than 30 minutes, which is wonderful when you're exhausted from work. This dish was so yummy, I'm actually excited about the left overs for lunch tomorrow. Here's the recipe.

Matar Paneer
adapted from Christie's corner
Serves 4

1/4 cup canola oil
2 large onions, minced
2 Tbsp garlic, grated
2 Tbsp gingerroot, grated
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp Garam Masala
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 cup paneer, cubed
2 cups peas, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk (see note)

1. Heat a non-stick skillet over high. Add oil then onions, and sauté until dark golden brown.

2. Add the garlic and ginger, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the tomato paste and cumin seeds and cook for 30 seconds.

4. Reduce the heat to low, add the garam masala, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, turmeric, and salt, and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add the paneer and cook another 5 minutes.

6. Add the peas, yogurt and cream. Cook 2 to 4 minutes or until the peas are just cooked.

7. Sprinkled with fresh cilantro. Serve immediately.

Note:

• *original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of heavy cream. I ended up using milk to lighten the dish and I didn't think the dish suffered from it.