Portobello Sandwiches -- A Vegetable Dinner

I think it's especially nice to have vegetarian dinners when I know we have had meat for lunch (leftover chicken in a sandwich for me and stir-fried chicken at the cafeteria for Don). Noted food writer Mark Bittman does the opposite -- he lost 40 pounds by being a vegetarian before 6pm every day, or a flextarian as he likes to say.

Last night we had portobello sandwiches, our first-of-the-season corn-on-the-cob and a green salad. Strawberries with sugar and a splash of orange extract and yogurt on top for dessert.

I did read recently in a magazine that portobellos were passé, but hey, I'm not exactly a cutting-edge,   molecular gastronomy, kind of cook anyway, so passé is actually OK by me.

I adapted this recipe a few years ago from a Rachael Ray 30 minute meal show. They are better I think with Manchego cheese, but it's just a bit pricey, so I use whatever cheese I have on hand. I use a combination of balsamic salad dressing, red wine and minced garlic for my marinade.


Rachael Ray marinates for only 10 minutes, but I try for 1/2 hour or so.



Cut the edges of the red peppers so you can smush them as flat as possible under the broiler.



I've been taking lately to drying fruits and veggies on dishtowels to reduce my paper towel footprint, if you know what I mean.

Done.



The peppers are inside, resting, steaming a bit and cooling off, waiting for me to peel off the blackened skin.



Pull off a bit of bread from both sides of the roll so the mushrooms, peppers and parsley will all fit inside.



It's not pretty, and is potentially disastrous if the tea pot were to tip over, but it works to squish down the mushrooms. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper after they finish cooking.



Slice the mushrooms and peppers into bite sized pieces or you'll have serious problems trying to eat this!