Sans Gluten Stuffed Portobello

Portobello mushrooms are one of my favorite 'shrooms to work with.  They are versatile, hearty and of course delicious. Slice them up and saute as a side dish or keep them whole and create a main dish. I like to make this dish when I'm looking for a quick and easy week night dinner.  If you have kids in the house this is a great meal for them to help you prepare!

As usual I encourage you to experiment with other ingredients that you love but see below for the version I'm quite fond of.  Feel free to adjust quantities to your liking.

Ingredients:
4 large portobello caps (remove the stem)
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes (optional)

For stuffing:
3/4 cup part skim ricotta cheese
3/4 cup shredded part skim mozarella
1/2 cup of your favorite sans gluten breadcrumbs*
3/4 cup baby spinach (optional-I just tried adding spinach this week and it was great)

*If using unseasoned breadcrumbs try adding some of your favorite fresh or dried herbs, i.e. oregano, garlic, dried red pepper flakes,etc

Place the portobellos gill side down on a baking sheet and bake at 385 degrees for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the stuffing.

Remove the mushrooms from the oven and flip over, gill side up.

Place enough stuffing on each mushroom to almost cover the whole thing (I like ALOT).
If using cherry tomatoes place them on top of the stuffing and put mushrooms back into oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy this dish as a vegetarian main over a salad or with some sans gluten grains. IF there are any leftovers enjoy for lunch at work the next day!

NICE MATIN

Sans gluten bread with herbed butter and olive oil

Almond cookies:)

Last week my sister and I went to Nice Matin on the Upper West Side of New York City for an early dinner before a concert at the Beacon theater. We picked Nice Matin because of it's proximity to the Beacon and the menu looked great with naturally sans gluten options.  Little did we know they have an actual sans gluten menu.

When we were ready to order I did my usual "I have a wheat allergy-is there flour in the sauce, breadcrumbs sprinkled on this, etc." -you know the drill....The waiter Nick responded "Are you Celiac?"  Although I have Celiac disease and AM NOT Celiac disease I was so happy to have a knowledgeable waiter. I love it when this happens! It's an instant assessment of the intelligence of the wait staff. Of course I replied yes and Nick was incredibly helpful with the rest of my order (Arugula salad with parmesan cheese and steak au poivre with spinach-delish!). This type of interaction is somewhat standard but then.....

My sister and I asked them to remove the bread basket to which Nick replied "Do you want gluten free bread?" I think I may have screamed YES!!! This never happens so as excited as I was I was also a bit skeptical. What kind of sans gluten bread would Nick bring? As you can see for yourself above the bread tasted as good as it looks!

The rest of our dinner was delicious. I received a side of mashed potatoes without having to ask because normally the steak au poivre comes with fried onions on top.  For dessert I had almond cookies (see above). I'm not usually a big dessert girl but had to try them and they were awesome!

Overall this was a fantastic dining experience and my sister and I let the manager know before we left.  I think it's important to let people know when they are doing a great job (and when they're not-in a nice way of course).  It's nice to dine out and have naturally sans gluten options to choose from but when you have sans gluten replacement foods it really makes all the difference.