Sautéed Portabello Salad
Grill them, stuff them, use them as hamburger toppings … portabello mushrooms are a favorite summer treat. But my favorite way to enjoy them is to slice them very thin and sautée them with extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of sea salt so that you wind up with portabello crisps. It’s the perfect base for a quick salad featuring whatever is plentiful in your garden or at the market. You can also snip a few fresh herbs to go on the top of your crisp-yet-cool masterpiece.
Portabello Summer Salad
This serves two for a side salad or one for a main, but you can vary the amount of veggies depending on what’s available and plentiful. Just be sure to slice the portabellos very thinly before cooking them.
Extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt
2-3 portabello mushrooms, thinly sliced
2-3 medium tomatoes (Romas work well), chopped
Handfuls of fresh lettuce, roughly chopped if they’re big leaves
Fresh herbs (such as chives, basil, or dill), minced
Balsamic vinegar
In a medium- to large-sized saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat for 1 minute. Slide in the portabello slices, making sure each one is fully touching the pan, and let cook for about 3 minutes. Flip over slices, season with a pinch of sea salt, and continue to cook for another 2 minutes. The mushrooms should be shriveled around the edges and turning a vague golden brown through their mushroom/earthy color.
Lay the tomatoes and lettuce out in sections on a plate, leaving a section for the mushrooms. Add the cooked mushrooms to the plate and scatter the herbs over everything. Drizzle the remaining oil from the pan onto the plate — add some fresh oil to the tomatoes and lettuce if you like — then drizzle on a few threads of balsamic vinegar only onto the tomatoes and lettuce. (The mushrooms will be so richly flavored from having been sautéed in thin slices that they don’t need any additional seasoning.) Serve promptly.
Enjoy!
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Tags: fresh herbs, mushrooms, portabello, salad, tomatoes
