Portobello Wellington
10-14 button mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 green scallion
1/4 cup raw pecans
1/3 cup olive oil, divided
12 sheets phyllo dough, pliable but not completely thawed
4 small-medium size portobello mushrooms, stems removed
1. You must work quickly, so the phyllo does not dry out. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or oil a baking dish. In food processor, combine button mushrooms, garlic, scallion and pecans.
2. Process until a fine crumb appears and then drizzle a bit of olive oil in to make a paste. (No more than 1-2 teaspoons) With portobello stem side up, spread filling 1/4" thick in the center of the mushroom. Cut mushrooms in 1/2 so you have 8 halves.
3. Using phyllo dough, cut each sheet in 1/2. Take one of the halves and place on a surface and brush with oil. Take another sheet and brush with oil and repeat once more for a total of 3 sheets. Make sure you use a damp towel to keep other sheets moist.
4. Place a 1/2 filled portobello mushroom at the top edge of phyllo sheet 1/2 and roll it to the other end, and tuck side under. Place on prepared dish. Repeat until all 8 are wrapped. It's okay if one of the sheets breaks up a bit. If they are too warm, it will be tough and if they are still frozen they won't come apart.
5. Brush the tops with olive oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
Presentation is great if before baking, you can wrap a Chinese long bean around the finished wrap. It looks beautiful once baked.
This has been a fantastic Thanksgiving hit. This is a variation to one I won a Vegetarian Times Recipe contest with 10 years ago. Serve it with your favorite gravy. I make a cashew gravy from Linda Coles Gourmet Grains cookbook. A wild rice dish, cranberry sauce and sweet potato soup compliment this Portobello dish beautifully.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I've been planning on making these since October and I finally made them for Christmas. They are not difficult to make although they are a bit time consuming. It took me a couple of tries before I realized I should be rolling them up burrito style. I tripled the recipe but added one or two cloves less garlic and I still thought there was too much garlic in the finished product. They were way too garlicky and in that raw garlic kind of a way, since 375 for 25 minutes isn't really enough to thoroughly cook the filling. When I was making them I was sort of suspicious that the filling didn't need to be precooked first--evena little bit--and it turned out my premonitions were correct.
Also, because they were served on a plate at a buffet, people didn't necessarily eat them with a knife and fork and my brother reported back that it was a surprising and unpleasant experience to be biting into the whole mushroom and suggested I chop them up next time. But thanks for sharing the recipe and I'm going to look around for other recipes to help me tweak this one so it better suits my needs.