Portabella Mushroom Sandwich

From June 1, 2004: i love portabella mushrooms. they are very earthy, hearty, and a great meat substitute. one of my favorite ways to eat portabellas is by making a sandwich with them.

for the sandwich: clean the mushroom (you can remove the gills, but i usually don’t) and then marinate it in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, italian herbs, salt, and pepper. while the mushroom marinates, prepare the rest of the ingredients – slice tomatoes, wash baby spinach leaves, toast some sort of artisan-type bread (sourdough is my favorite, a crusty boule bread is in close second) and prepare a dressing..

sometimes i dress the sandwich with a brown mustard, other times (depending on motivation and mood) i prepare a sun-dried tomato mayonaise. for the sun-dried tomato mayo,  reconstitute sun-dried tomatoes in warm water until soft. finely chop and add to a bit of spectrum canola oil mayonaise along with salt and pepper.

once all the ingredients are prepared,  grill both sides of the mushroom in a hot grill pan on the stove. when it is cooked through and tender,  remove the mushroom and slice (sometimes i leave it whole depending on the shape of the bread).

to assemble the sandwich:  spread some mustard or sun-dried tomato mayo on the toasted bread, layer the mushrooms on top of the slice and then top with spinach and sliced tomatoes. i like to drizzle a little of the marinade on top of the veggies before adding the top piece of bread.

this sandwich is messy to eat, so make sure you have lots of napkins!