April 14, 2010

Wonderful Wednesdays

I find myself using more and more 'W' words these days. I can't fight the brand brainwashing.

Ahhh...Wonderful Wednesdays, they're the closest thing I have to a weekend (that is unless I call in sick to work which of course I never do, ahem). Once my 3 and a half hour class lets out, I'm free to do as I please. Which is usually nothing but grocery shopping and dishes that have built up from the beginning of the week. I live a hectic life on the countdown to graduation. So when I DO get a day off, I would rather relax at home more than anything else. Wednesday is one of the few days I have time to cook for myself as well. Fancy this, I actually made myself breakfast AND dinner today. Awesome right? When I cook meals for myself, I use simple ingredients and nothing terribly fancy of course.

Tonight's dinner was a grilled portabella mushroom burger with sautéed onions and asiago cheese. No recipe needed here, just brush off any dirt from the mushroom, take the stem off, and scrape out the gills. Slice up about 1/4th of a small onion and season both with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. You could even throw on a little Italian dressing for a little more zesty-ness.

Toss the onion and mushroom on a preheated grill pan or in a regular non-stick frying pan with the shroom top side down. Let it cook for about 4 minutes on one side then flip it on top of the pile of onions. This helps the onions steam and get soft while flavoring the portabella at the same time (kind of like a veggie version of White Castle burgers right? Ha!). Cook for another 4 minutes on that side or until you can see the juices forming.

Serve it on a toasted bun with a slice of your favorite cheese (I found some sliced asiago at Trader Joes today). It would work with anything from swiss to cheddar. I also sliced up some fresh asparagus at an angle (because it looks prettier J) and cooked it alongside the onions with the same olive oil, S&P mix. Easy-peasy right? I found that it doesn't really need any condiments since the 3 ingredients are so flavorful by themselves. You could add more grilled or sautéed vegetables if you'd like (ie. bell peppers, zucchini, or eggplant).

It's nothing too wild or worldly, just simple fare, warranting a little wuv. Too much?