Mmm, Dinner!

I recently acquired 11 oz of figs from my friend Kathleen. It's not a ton of figs, but when you're not sure what to do with one, and you're the only person in the house who would bother eating one, it's alot! Here's the fig in question:



So, there is the very real danger that I might end up having to rename my blog "Eating My Way", because as I had alot of fun recording tonight's dinner!


So, here are the ingredients needed for a gorgeous portabella "burger":

1 portabella cap, stem cut.

3-ish tablespoons balsamic vinagrette (I like Newman's Own, but a homemade 50:50 ratio is very good,too)

1 dried black mission fig, thinly sliced and lightly brushed with balsamic vinegar

2-4 medium sized slices of red onion (not too thin, but not fat either)

4 rings of red pepper, not too thin (they must be sturdy enough to survive the grill)

3-4 leaves of fresh basil

1 slice of mozzarella or provolone cheese

1 bakery roll, preferably whole wheat


Thoroughly clean the mushroom and knock all loose dirt and whatever off of it. Do not submerge in water! Clean gently with a damp paper towel. You may want to scrape out the "gills", but I never do. They don't bother me and I'm lazy. I also tend to think that the gills hold in the flavor of the vinaigrette, but that could be my imagination.

Pour half the vinaigrette in a bowl that the entire cap can sit flat in, the other half into the cap. use a brush to get the whole thing as coated as possible, and let sit for about 5 minutes or so.


Place the cap on the grill face (gills side) down. Be careful, the oil from the dressing is FLAMMABLE and the flames will jump up. Arrange the onions and peppers, like so, directly on the grill, and close the lid for 5-10 (depending how hot your grill is, it might take much less time) minutes and then flip the onions and peppers. You want to slightly burn and blacken stripes onto the onions and peppers. Otherwise, you might as well cook them in a skillet on the stove. It's the BURN that makes it good, trust me.

Flip the mushroom cap and place the thinly sliced fig into the cavity. You might want to drain some of the juices out first. Then place the grilled onions on the figs, the peppers on the onions, and then tear up the basil leaves and carefully place them on the peppers. You may then place on top of the whole lot a slice of provalone or mozzarella or what ever cheese you like. I used mozzarella here, and it was very good.

As a side, I brushed what remained of the balsamic on some asparagas and threw that on the grill as well. Notice Peter's hamburger in back with the onion on it! He's getting adventurous, too!

Here it is, all on a whole wheat bun with baby spinach and with the asparagus. Don't use a crappy commercially processed roll for this, believe me, good bread makes all the difference. Soon I hope to brave baking my own, but for now this one was from the bakery. Voila!



Well, I don't expect a phone call from Bon Appetit magazine, but all in all I was very happy with the result. Maybe next time I'll show you a breakfast of champions!