Batter-Splattered

hot and spicy grilled portobellos with tomato olive tapenade

I think I'll do up a few posts with photos of the public use cabin we camped at this past weekend, and even better: I'll tell you what we ate 'round the campfire.

 

First dip of the day:

 
 
Our first course for dinner 'round the campfire one night was a recipe for grilled portobellos with tomato tapenade. I'm pretty sure I got it in an email newsletter from Splendid Table but I'm not sure now because I can't find it at their site or in my email account. I'm gonna have to hang onto this dog-eared paper copy of this recipe then because boy, was it ever a keeper.

 

The recipe follows -- I made a few changes here and there. I made the tapenade at home to bring along on the camping trip. The original recipe includes putting a bed or arugula on each plate and pouring a bit of the pepper/oil blend you mix together for brushing the mushrooms. That sounds lovely but wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find arugula the day I looked for it. Just the spicy-hot smoky mushrooms in combination with the tomato/olive tapenade was heavenly all on its own. It would have been even better with the peppery bite of arugula added in.

On a side not: I finally caught up on sorting through all the photos I've been taking of weekend adventures and they're posted now at flickr.

Hot Spiced Portobello Grill with Tomata Tapenade

Serves 6

The mushrooms:

1/2 c olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 t red pepper flakes

1/4t oregano

6 large portobello mushroom caps (save the stems for something else but whatever you do, don't pop one off and throw it into the bushes because Angie will scream at you)

Salt and pepper

Tomato tapenade:

2 medium/large tomatoes, 1/2-inch dice

10 pitted kalamata olives

2 T capers, drained

1/2 c canned, drained chickpeas

1 clove garlic, minced

Juice of half a lemon

For the mushrooms, in a blender or food processor, puree together the olive oil, garlic, pepper, and oregano. I bottled this up and took it along with me on the camping trip.

For the tapenade, I left some ingredients either whole (like the capers) or diced (like the tomatoes) then tossed the other ingredients (olives, chickpeas, garlic, lemon) in the food processor, then stirred everything together with some freshly ground pepper. After spending the day in the fridge it was wonderful. Not only did we pile it on the mushrooms, we were scooping it up with tortilla chips.

Either set your grill to medium-high or get your campfire to burn down to nice hot coals. Brush both sides of the mushrooms with the oil blend then grill on both sides until tender all the way through and slightly crispy, about 5 to 7 minutes per side. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Plate up the mushrooms and pile high with tapenade.

Derby-rific

This weekend I'm gonna fish in this silver salmon derby:

http://www.adn.com/2010/08/11/1406248/silver-derby-opens-saturday-in.html

Dudes, I am in it to win it. My name's on one of those $50K tagged fishies and I already promised a couple of friends I'd buy us a round of J.Crew cashmere sweaters if I won at least $10,000.

With every cast I'll be muttering, "Come onnnnn, mama needs a new sweater."

a farmer's market exchange

I hopped on Siri's band wagon and joined her Second Annual Farmer's Market Exchange, and then promptly got matched up with her sister in Minneapolis.

What to send, what to send. Well, we're famous for our humongous cabbages here but there's probably some sort of lame rules and regulations, not to mention weight restrictions, against shipping a 127-pounder so here's what I sent Ingrid instead:

Everyone who visits our state buys an ulu. And if you didn't buy one, you were never really here.

I especially like the 'exotic wood handle' on this one and I think I might have to go back and get one of my own.

Also in the box was a bag of sour cream and onion chips made from locally grown potatoes. Locally roasted coffee -- this kind's charmingly called The Outhouse Blend. And a sticker advertising locally grown agriculture.

I also got her a nice-looking chopping bowl block to go along with her new ulu.

And I think there might have been a chocolate bar in there too?

Ingrid, if those chips show up as a big ball of crumbs, I'll refer you to the Chips 'n Fish recipe on page 25 of my new favorite cookbook. According to the authors, crushed potato chips make an exceptionally crunchy, golden crust for fish.