Healthy Lunch: Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

by Molly Niendorf — September 19, 2008

Before I offer up today's lunch recipe, I'll have to make a confession. Besides caring about nutrition, I'm also a shameless reality TV viewer. I watched the Real Housewives of Orange County and its follow up, Real Housewives of New York. Yes, I know it's equivalent to eating a donut: bereft of value! However, I did discover Bethenny Frankel, one of the women from New York, who's also a celebrity chef. At her Web site, you can find a number of healthy recipes, including these Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms. Apparently, these are Denis Leary's favorites. Here's my disclaimer: I haven't prepared these yet, but they look pretty delicious. Try them and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

4 large portabella mushrooms
1 clove garlic minced
Balsamic vinaigrette dressing
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons pine nuts, pan toasted
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
4-5 button mushrooms, chopped
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Additional 1 Tablespoon of Parmesan and 1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Wipe mushrooms clean. Cut off base. Finely chop the base and set aside. Mix balsamic dressing, garlic, Dijon, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Brush the entire mushroom with the marinade. Place mushrooms in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate for 1 to several hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine remaining ingredients (except pine nuts) in a food chopper. Season with salt and pepper.
Grill mushrooms on an outdoor grill, grill pan, or nonstick skillet. Bethenny recommends placing a pan or weight on top of the mushrooms to make them crispier and remove some of the water. Grill until lightly charred, flip, and repeat. Place mushrooms on tinfoil. Spread mushroom mixture on top of each portabella, sprinkle with pine nuts and Parmesan and bake for 10 minutes. For the last 5 minutes, place under the broiler. Sprinkle with parsley. Eat for dinner and take leftovers for lunch the next day, or simply allow to cool, then refrigerate and reheat in microwave at work.