Grilled Mushroom “Caprese” with Veggies

I came up with this yumminess last night when I forgot to defrost a chicken breast and then remembered I had a portobello mushroom in the fridge. It was a happy food mistake that turned into a healthy and totally filling dinner.

I think I might need to take food photographs on white plates instead of black. I love my black plates, because I listened to a lot of Bauhaus and Kraftwerk in high school, but they just don’t make food look that amazing in pictures. Sorry. About the picture. Not about the black plates, Bauhaus OR Kraftwerk.

I used a grill pan on the stove for this, though you could totally take it outside to grill. If you do it outside, throw the mushroom right on the grill and use some heavy foil to create a little tray for the other veggies. Or put the other veggies on skewers (soaked, if using wood or bamboo) so they don’t fall through the grill grate.

Ingredients Large portobello mushroom 1/2 onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, smashed Olive oil Balsamic vinegar Red bell pepper Large zucchini Season salt Cracked black pepper Fresh mozzarella Fresh basil

Directions Rinse mushroom and carefully scoop out the gills. Add into a Ziploc baggie with the minced onion and smashed garlic cloves and throw in enough olive oil to cover. Throw some balsamic in there, as much as you like, I’m not a giant fan of balsamic so I don’t throw so much in. Shake baggie. Well, I mean, close the baggie first, then shake to cover and marinade in the fridge for one hour.

Walk the doggie, and then the mushroom should be all marinaded when you get back.

Chop the pepper and zucchini in large-ish slices, remember you’re grilling them so make them a little bigger than you would if adding them into a dish. Add to bowl and lightly cover with olive oil and season salt.

Shake excess marinade off mushroom and grill on medium-high grill pan gill-side down first and add veggies to grill. Flip mushroom over and give the veggies a little shakey shake and after a few minutes, fill the mushroom with fresh mozzerella and add some cracked black pepper to both the veggies and mushroom. That’s it! The mozzerella will get a little melty and the veggies will have some nice sear and you will eat them and like it.

Oh! add the fresh basil to the top of the mushroom for “I think I’m gourmet, damnit” flavor and appearance.

If you try this, let me know what you think, okay?