Meatless Monday: Roasted Portabella Mushroom Sandwich

I guess I'm kind of an enigma when it comes to portabella mushrooms. For some reason or another, I can't stand mushrooms, but I love portabellas. When we got a couple in our Fresh Picks box, I knew this was a recipe I wanted to make. I often order vegetarian meals when I go out to eat and a portabella sandwich is a pretty common menu item. I've had it many times in restaurants, but I'd never attempted to cook one myself. For this recipe, I only had two portabella caps. For future attempts, I think I would use a third or even fourth to make this a heartier sandwich. But as it was, it was quite tasty.

Ingredients
1 bulb of garlic
2-3 portabella mushroom caps
1/2 cup (plus drizzle) olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram
3 sundried tomatoes, sliced
6 basil leaves
handful of fresh spinach
1 tomato, sliced
2-3 whole slices of red onion
your favorite sandwich bread
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
crushed red pepper

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400*. Slice the top off of the garlic bulb (to expose the cloves). Drizzle with olive oil. Wrap in foil. Roast garlic in the oven for 30 minutes.

2. On a baking sheet, place the portabella mushrooms (top side down). Drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and marjoram. Add to the portabellas to the oven after the garlic has been cooking for 10 minutes. They will finish at the same time.

3. In a small food processor, combine basil, sundried tomatoes and 1/2 cup olive oil. When the garlic is done roasting, let cool for a few minutes and remove the cloves from the bulb. Add the garlic to the processor and pulse until minced and combined.

4. For this recipe, I used a large, soft French loaf. But you could also use ciabatta or panini or any other hearty sandwich bread. Switch the oven over to broil. Slice the bread and toast it lightly.

5. While bread is toasting, sautee the onions for just a couple minutes to soften them. Add the spinach to the pan and cook until wilted slightly.

6. Remove bread from oven. Spread all slices with the garlic pesto. Add the spinach, tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, onions and cheese. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper. Put back into the oven until the cheese is melted.

7. Place the top on the sandwich and enjoy!

Bon Appetit!
The Food Whore