Build Your Own Mushroom Stacks

Whenever I travel, I like to find a bookstore and browse the cookbook section. On one of my recent trips to Thailand, I bought a raw food cookbook called The Unbakery because the food looked delicious and I thought this could inspire me to try some raw cuisine. I like to look through my cookbook collection for ideas and I found in the The Unbakery, there was a recipe for portobello mushroom burgers with almond hummus. It looked so good, I thought this is what I want to make. Unfortunately with raw food, there has to be some pre planning and I wanted to serve the dish for dinner, I was not prepared to soak the almonds for 12 hours in order to make the hummus. I decided to make my own spin on a cooked version.

I knew that I wanted to create different layers of textures between the mushrooms and I had a bunch of miscellaneous vegetables in the refrigerator so I decided to cook some and to leave some raw.

For my sandwiched mushrooms I used

• portobello mushrooms
• delicata squash
• kale
• red cabbage
• red onions
• avocado
• hummus
• cilantro

For basic meal preparations I like to make my food simple. For me, this means cooking without the need to follow a recipe step by step.

Roasted Portobello Mushrooms and Delicata Squash for two people

• 4 similar sized portobello mushrooms, washed and patted dry
• 1 small delicata squash, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves minced or 1 tsp dried thyme

In a large bowl drizzle some olive oil, about 3 tbsp or more over the mushrooms and squash. Season with salt and pepper to taste and toss together the garlic and thyme. Spread the mushrooms and squash onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan. Bake in a 350F degree oven for 10-20 mins or until the squash and mushrooms are tender.

You can roast the squash and mushrooms separately but I like one pan clean up. Depending on the thickness of the mushrooms, the squash will cook before the mushrooms are done, so I just remove the pieces of squash as they cook. While the squash and mushrooms are roasting I start preparing the kale.

Sautéed Kale

• 1 bunch of kale, washed, ribs removed and leaves chopped medium size
• olive oil
• salt
• garlic, minced

Heat a medium sized sauté pan and add in about 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss in the kale and garlic. Season with salt and cook until the leaves are tender.

Shaved Cabbage

• thinly sliced red cabbage
• olive oil
• rice wine vinegar or any vinegar of choice
• salt and pepper to taste

For 1/4 cup of shaved cabbage I used 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp of olive oil and salt and pepper. I tend to like my dressings on the tart side, but you can always use your favorite bottled salad dressing.

To assemble the mushrooms I placed one mushroom, cap side down on a plate, then piled on some kale, cabbage, thinly sliced red onions, slices of avocados, delicate squash, cilantro and hummus. Topping all the vegetables with another mushroom cap. On the plate there is some cauliflower puree (only because I had some leftover) and hot sauce. My husband has to eat everything with hot sauce!

I know the ingredient list may look long, but as the title says build your own, you can create this dish with just about anything you have on hand. It's a great way to use up leftover ingredients you have in your fridge. Thank you for visiting my page and I can't wait to see your creation.