I cannot believe that my last post goes back to one month ago. Shame on me. I have no excuse, so shame on me twice. I have been back from France, then I got sick, then I have been busy working and busy working out, so one thing added to another, voilà, my blog is being neglected. Quelle honte!

In the vegetarian series, here is a good one. These mushrooms make a great presentation, have a lot of flavor and are light as a feather.

Since I found out that portobello mushrooms are just cremini mushrooms grown to an exaggerated size, I have not been as excited to cook them…yes, hélas the excitement is gone.

Yesterday, strolling around the vegetable section, some fresh and pretty portobello caught my attention. I have been ignoring them for a while, and since I felt like eating mushrooms, I bought them not really knowing how to prepare them. It ended being a light stuffing with finely chopped vegetables, basil, pine nuts and goat cheese. They are ridiculously light so if you are hungry, I suggest eating two with some side dish. I loved the light texture and flavor of the stuffing…so I would say portobello are back in my kitchen. I don’t know for how long, but so far, they’re in.

Ingredients

• 2 large portobellos
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 zucchini
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 4 mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 2 tbs basil, chopped
• 1 tbs pine nuts
• 2 tbs goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbs kalamata olives, chopped
• 2 tbs panko breadcrumbs (plus extra for topping)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the stuffing

Chop in a mixer zucchini, onion and bell pepper. The texture needs to be fine but with some pieces.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add mushrooms, let them cook until the water evaporates. Remove from pan.

Chop mushrooms as finely as the other vegetables.

In the same pan, heat olive oil, add zucchini, onion and pepper mixture. Let them cook at medium heat for a few minutes (no water should be left in the pan). If there is still water, remove excess water with a towel or squeeze using your hands when the mixture has cooled down.

Remove from pan and in a mixing bowl mix vegetables with mushrooms. Let it cool. Add the rest of the ingredients (except oil), leaving the goat cheese for the end. The goat cheese needs to keep some crumbly texture so mix carefully all the ingredients.

For the mushrooms

Sprinkle mushrooms with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Broil for 5 minutes.

using a paper towel absorb mushroom water if necessary and pat dry.

Pre heat oven at 375F. Divide the stuffing on each mushroom, sprinkle with some bread crumbs and cook for about 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve hot with a green salad.

When I go to the store, I buy everything I get attracted to, so when I go to the store hungry, I get attracted to everything in the store. That’s what they say don’t go shopping when you’re hungry, which is definitely a good advice.

Today one of the magic item that ended up in my cart is haloumi. I adore haloumi, it’s a wonderful cheese from Cyprus, and made with half sheep milk, half goat milk. It’s mainly prepared grilled or fried. It softens when it cooks but never really melts, so it’s perfect for grilling. It’s quite salty so does not need additional salt. You can also use cannellini beans instead of the garbanzo bean salad, it will be equally delicious.

I would put this dish in the fast food or express category. When you think about those two words put together “fast” and “food” they do not have a bad connotation, the bad connotation is that they’ve been used to describe meals served by chains such as McDonalds which are not really healthy.

Ingredients for 2

• haloumi, sliced about 1cm thick
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1.5 cups cooked chick peas
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced in small pieces
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs mixed herbs, finely chooped (chives, parsley, mint, etc…)
• 1 tsp meyer lemon juice
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Mix together all ingredients for dressing (except chick peas, paprika and haloumi) and mix well. Pour dressing on chick peas and mix all ingredients together. Sprinkle paprika on both sides of haloumi, then grill on a grill pan or regular non stick pan. When both sides and golden brown, remove from pan and place on top of chickpea salad. Serve while haloumi is hot.