Everything But The Kitchen Sink Gourmet Tacos

London invited me over for dinner on Thursday night, but had not yet planned what we were going to eat when I arrived. I guess I was feeling inspired by the portobello mushrooms from Smash’s on Wednesday, so I suggested we make portobello tacos. Not only did I suggest dinner, I took over the kitchen to cook it too! Go ahead and call me the kitchen tyrant, at least I make some good food 🙂 Sorry, London, sometimes I just can’t stop myself! Smash may have skewered me had I tried to take over her kitchen….

Anyway! What did we end up making? We started with the intention of making portobello mushroom, green chile, and carmalized onion tacos with mushroom rice on the side. What we ended up eating, I’m going to call “Everything But The Kitchen Sink Gourmet Tacos,” becuase I just kept piling on the ingredients! Please, feel free to edit to your liking or go crazy like I did.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Groumet Tacos

Ingredients:

2 large portobello mushroom caps, cleaned and cut into strips

1 can chopped green or ortega chiles

1 mediuim onion, sliced into long strips

3/4 cup Apricot stilton cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt with a 1/4 lime squeezed in (or lime Greek yogurt if you can find it!)

1 avocado, cut into slices

corn tortillas

olive oil/butter

Preparation:

1) sautee onion over low heat in olive oil, butter (Earth Balance), or a combo of the two for a LONG TIME, just let them work and enjoy a glass of wine or prep your other ingredients. Carmelizing onions takes patience, you want them to cook long and low until they turn see-through and a tan/brown color, and maybe seem a little bit smooshy (yes, smooshy).

2) when the onions are done, or in another non-stick pan or one lightly coated in Pam, sautee/brown up the green chiles. Just open the can and dump ’em in over medium-high heat to get a bit of a blister going then remove to a bowl

3) sear the portobello mushroom strips for 3 -5 minutes over medium-high heat on each side in a (mainly) dry pan, use the chile pan or the onion pan without adding anymore olive oil or butter.

4) heat the corn tortillas under a damp towel in the microwave, or I have this handy dandy tortilla microwaver thing

5) Building the tacos! Take a tortilla (or two), place 2-3 strips mushroom, onions, chiles, avocado, cheese, and top with the lime-yogurt sauce, take a bite, smile, and enjoy (in that order)

Don’t forget the sidedish! Actually, start this first as it takes a while to bake

Mushroom and Onion Baked Rice

Ingredients:

5 crimini (baby ‘bellas) or white mushroom, cleaned and sliced – you can totally leave out the mushrooms if you want!

1 small onion (1/2 medium or 1/4 large then use the other 3/4 for the tacos!), diced

1 1/2 cups rice – I use brown but my family prefers it with white or jasmine rice

3-4 cups veggie stock – keep an eye on the rice once it’s in the oven

olive oil/butter

salt to taste

Preparation: Pre-heat oven to 350

1) sautee onions in olive oil/butter till opaque over medium-low heat

2) add mushrooms and continue to cook til they start to sweat

3) add rice and satuee till slightly brown

4) dump it all in a baking pan and cover with veggie stock

5) bake at 350 for about an hour, but check it at 45 minutes to check the liquid level, you can add more stock if it’s dry or bake longer if it’s got too much liquid

6) taste the rice, add some salt, and spoon a nice pile next to (or in to!) your tacos

London and I toyed with the idea of getting Trader Jose Dark or red wine, we went with Three Knights Pinot Nior so we didn’t have to wait for the cervezas to chill. Again, please edit and tweak these recipes to suit your needs and tickle your tastebuds. Happy eating my friends!