Caramelized mushrooms with pesto guacamole

So not to rub it in or anything but right now I’m in the sunny Dominican Republic, in my new bathing suit that despite my first attempts at trying on upside down, (it’s a halter top, I’ll let you picture my stupidity with that) fits perfectly, most likely sitting on a lounge chair by the pool waiting for a reasonable hour before attacking the bartender at the swim up bar.

Although all this is contingent upon my groupon purchase working out and not arriving to a place with no record of our reservation. I’m only slightly concerned with that after an “OK- CONFIRM” email with nothing else in it from the hotel. I brushed up my Spanish vocab in hotel nomenclature before coming fully anticipating something going wrong.

And here you are getting mushrooms.

I’d say I’m sorry but really, I’m not because these are not your normal ‘shrooms.

It’s so unfortunate that so many people don’t do the fungi. I’m fully convinced it’s because they just haven’t had them prepared well. And by well, I mean caramelized with some onions in butter and olive oil. It’s that simple. The only complication? YOU CAN’T TOUCH THEM ONCE THEY’RE IN THE PAN. Seriously, walk away from the pan, let them do their thing for about 10 minutes and the result will be perfectly caramelized mushrooms, not soggy bland ones that are reminiscent of a bad pizza topping choice.

And because Bev totally had me drooling with her idea of kale pesto guacamole the other week, you should definitely do that too. It takes the term “side dish” to a whole other level. I mixed some chicken sausage in and called it a meal.

If given the choice, I’d still take my pina something or another in the sunny DR over this, but it’s a close call. Seriously.

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Caramelized mushrooms with pesto guacamole

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

12 mins

Total time

22 mins

 

Make mushrooms this way and you’ll never eat them another way again.

Author: Gina Matsoukas

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Mushrooms

• 2 lbs. mushrooms (white button and baby bellas work well), cleaned, stems removed and halved or quartered if they are large.
• ½ large yellow onion, sliced
• ½ tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Pesto Guacamole

• 4 cups tightly packed kale, stems removed
• 1 cup spinach
• 1 clove of garlic
• juice of ½ lemon
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• ½ avocado

Instructions

Mushrooms

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter and olive oil.
2. Add onions to the pan and saute for about 2-3 minutes until softened.
3. Add mushrooms to the pan, season with pepper (not salt yet) and spread into one even layer.
4. Cook for the next 10 minutes but do not touch them.
5. Once mushrooms have sweat off their water and become golden brown, toss them in the pan with the onions.
6. Season with salt to taste and set aside.

Pesto Guacamole

1. Combine all ingredients except olive oil & avocado in a food processor.
2. Turn processor on and drizzle olive oil in while it’s running.
3. Scrape down the sides if necessary and process until a pesto forms.
4. Add avocado and process for another 10-15 seconds until combined but with a few chunks remaining.
5. Top mushrooms with guacamole and garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.

3.2.1215

Inspired & adapted from Bev Cooks

Tagged as: kale, mushrooms, onions, paleo, pesto, spinach, vegetarian