I am always amazed at the delicious dishes you can make with vegetables. I can certainly spend the rest of my life without looking at meat or any dead animal on my plate.

You could of course replace barley with brown rice, farro, quinoa…most of my recipes are versatile and I see them as ideas and suggestions.

In this recipe, I cooked barley in a rice cooker with broth and white wine, somehow like a risotto but not cooked by liquid absorption more like a steamed rice. It’s quite helpful when your time is limited. Of course, the texture is very different, not creamy and more dry, which works perfectly here because I added the cream of asparagus at the end.

Ingredients for 3

For the portobello

• 3 medium size portobello
• 1 tbs olive oil + 1 tbs
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 1.5 medium leeks, sliced
• 2 tbs heavy cream or creme fraîche
• thyme for sprinkling
• 3-4 tbs gruyère cheese, grated
• salt and pepper

For the barley

• 4.20 oz (or 120 g) barley
• vegetable broth
• white wine
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 bunch asparagus
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the barley

Cook barley in a rice cooker with vegetable broth and white wine. The quantities are half each (50% broth, 50% wine). Usually, for liquid quantity vs. grain, I put enough liquid to cover grain + half inch extra liquid on top of the grain.

In a pan, heat olive oil and sweat the shallots until they become soft and translucent. Add leeks and 4 tbs vegetable broth. Cover and let cook at slow heat until the asparagus are soft. Adjust with salt and pepper. Blend in a mixer until the texture becomes smooth and creamy. If it’s too thick add broth.

When barley is cooked, add asparagus cream, mix well and keep warm.

For the portobello

In a pan, heat olive oil and add garlic. Stir a few minutes until fragrant, then add leeks. Add 2 tbs broth and cover. Let cook at slow heat until the leeks are soft and tender. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add thyme and cream. Let reduce. Remove from heat and set aside.

Sprinkle portobello with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Broil under broiler for about 5-10 minutes until the mushrooms produce water, but are not mushy. Remove from oven, absorb water with paper towel, and divide the leek mixture on top of each mushroom. Sprinkle with cheese and cook in a pre heated oven at 380F for 15-20 minutes or until mushrooms are golden brown.

Serve mushrooms hot on a bed of barley.

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.