Tuesday 29 January 2013

Roasted Portobello Sandwich with Sun-dried Tomato Aioli





A 7 1/2 month old baby has kept me from feeling like I had the time or energy to post another vegetarian meal; however, this sandwich -- even the thought of this sandwich has inspired me to post again. You NEED to make it. Don't wait, this sandwich will blow your mind. I was inspired by the cookbook Clean Food by Terry Walters, a fantastic cookbook in my opinion and I plan to make quite a few of her recipes while putting my own spin on things.

I have changed parts of this recipe to suit my needs and to suit the ingredients that I could find in the store this time of year.

Ingredients (serves 4):

Sandwich:
4 Portobello mushrooms 
2 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Sourdough bread (I used multigrain sourdough)
2 whole red peppers
2 ripe avocado
1 romaine heart
Grainy mustard or dijon

Aioli:
10-15 sun dried tomatoes in oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 tbsp oregano (dried or fresh)
1 tbsp basil (dried or fresh)
Salt

Preheat your oven to 400.

First, prepare the aioli so that the flavours can meld. You could make this a day ahead and have it sit in the fridge until you're ready to use it. Finely chop the sun dried tomatoes and add to a small mixing bowl. Using a microplane grater, or the small holes on a box grater, grate the garlic and add to the mixture. Add mayonnaise, herbs, and salt and stir thouroughly. Allow the mix to sit until you're ready to assemble your sandwich.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, place the mushrooms stem side up. Remove the stems and drizzle the mushrooms with a small amount of oil. Sprinkle the mushrooms with basil, oregano, and salt and roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. 


Once the mushrooms have roasted, remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 550C or high broil. Place the red peppers directly on the top rack with a baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch any drips if needed. Rotate the red pepper every 3-4 minutes, blackening and blistering the pepper on the outside. After the pepper has been rotated all the way around immediately remove and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, when you can safely handle the pepper, peel the skin off and discard. Slice the red pepper into strips. 



Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the avocado with a spoon so that it comes out of the skin in one piece. Slice into strips.

In a small bowl mix 3 tbsp of dijon mustard with 1 tbsp of honey or agave. If you don't have honey, I used a pinch of brown sugar, or you could skip this step and just use regular dijon or grainy mustard.

To assemble your sandwich, toast the bread in the toaster or oven. Spread aioli on one slice and mustard on the other. Slice portobellos and place along one slice of bread, followed by roasted red pepper, avocado, and romaine hearts.


This sandwich is delicious and filling on it's own and I felt like nothing else was needed with it. I know I will make this again.

Enjoy!