Long after Easter dinner and a whirlwind week of having guests over for several events – here I come to write about this beautiful meal I made for my family. If I may brag on myself it was both gourmet, nutritious, gluten-free (naturally) and full of wonderful, varied tastes. I had so many pictures I have decided to share them all.
My working title for this recipe is:
Portobello Veggie Tower
(makes enough for 6 people)
Ingredients:
6 large portobello mushroom caps, rinsed and dried
2 small, yellow squash – sliced in rounds, like thick quarters
1 sweet onion – diced
1 green pepper – sliced in long, narrow strips
6 stalks of rosemary
1 cup of chopped mushrooms (I used button and others from local farmers market)
2 large bunches of asparagus
3 tomatoes
1 yuca root – peel outer layer and slice thinly (see photos)
1/3-cup of marinated (in olive oil) sundried tomatoes
1/4-cup balsamic vinegar
Sunflower oil – 2 Tbsp and 1/3-cup and drizzling
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
Old Bay Seasoning
This may seem like a lot of ingredients but they come together nicely. The way I like to work is to prep all the ingredients ahead of time and quickly grab them while I am cooking. The picture above is how they came together on our plates, just to give you hope that this dish is SO worth it.
I started with the Yuca chips which accented the top of this veggie tower. Now with yuca, in case you have never worked with it, you must peel the outer, tough layer before you get to the good stuff. My absolute favorite preparation of yuca is how I did it for this recipe – You peel the outer skin with a sharp knife, almost like skinning a carrot. Then I slice rounds as thinly as possible. I heat enough olive or sunflower oil in a small pan that it will cover the “chips” and heat the oil HOT.
Once I have sliced enough rounds, I drop them in the hot oil and let them sit. I have an area of paper towels stacked and ready, then pull them out with a slotted spoon when they begin to turn a golden color. Watch them because they can burn quickly! While they are still hot and wet from the oil, I sprinkle them with sea salt, black pepper and old bay seasoning (I like the contrast of old bay). Here is what the finished product looked like – but I warn you that you should make enough to account for people walking by to snack on them because they are so darn good! Place them in a dish off to the side to cool.
Now I place the squash rounds, green peppers, diced onion and half of the chopped mushrooms in a 9×13 glass dish for the oven. In a blender (or food processor) combine the balsamic vinegar, olive oil (1/3-cup), sundried tomatoes and the remaining chopped mushrooms. Keep blending until it becomes thick and pasty. Preheat over to 350-degrees.
Spoon the paste over top of the veggies in the glass baking dish and spread it out as best you can – do not fret if it is not evenly distributed. Cover dish in aluminum foil, or I use a silicone mat because I like to peek at them easily. These veggies can take anywhere from 45-60 minutes to cook and I have not figured out why the difference occurs – but usually every 20 minutes I pull them out and stir them up to begin to coat all the veggies evenly with the tomato paste. After they’re done each one is juicy and well flavored with that sundried tomato paste.
On 2 cookie sheets that are lightly coated to prevent sticking, I place each portobello mushroom cap. Mine were so big I had to use 2 cookie sheets to space them adequately. The caps are place up, so the stems are on top. I cover each cap with a stalk of rosemary that is about the same length as the diameter of the cap. Then I drizzle each one with sunflower oil. Cover each cookie sheet with a tent of aluminum foil.
Once the veggies are done cooking in the oven, I pull them out and put the portobello caps in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Everyone has a different idea of how tender the portobello’s should be and depending upon size of the caps some may take longer. While the caps are cooking in the oven I put the asparagus in a large saute pan, drizzle with about 2 Tbsp, sprinkle sea salt and pepper. Asparagus do not take long to cook and we like them on the crispier side – not limp at all. Note: small known fact about asparagus – instead of indiscriminately cutting off the woody ends before cooking, you can actually grab the tip of the woody end between your thumb and forefinger – bend gently and SNAP. They will naturally break at the correct spot – thank you Alton Brown for teaching me that!
Now all that is left to do is to slice thick slabs of tomatoes and begin plating. Once the asparagus and portobello caps are done you can begin plating in this order:
Place portobello cap (minus rosemary) on plate – stem up. Put veggies cooked in sundried tomato paste on top (about 1/3 cup of veggies). Top the veggies with the tomato slice (or slab, depending upon thickness). Pierce the tower with a thin knife and plunge a stalk of rosemary down thru the whole tower. Place yuca chips on top of tomato on tower, and the asparagus stalks go on the side. (so much fun!) Here you can see a picture of me plating the dishes, and the row of finished plates.
