Portobellos are gourmet mushrooms. Right?

Actually…no.

Portobellos are poseurs. They are just your common Agaricus bisporus (button) mushroom with good PR. Who knew?

It turns out that until the 1980s,  those big beefy mushrooms we now call portobellos were the overly-mature culls that more often found their way into the compost pile than onto the dinner plate. Today, those same mushrooms command premium prices–$14 a pound at Amazon Whole Foods right now!

So…what in the heck happened here?

To put it bluntly, elderly common mushrooms got the Cinderella treatment. 

As is true so often in life, timing was everything. In the 1980s, the food world was experiencing an “eat your broccoli” healthy food moment. Seeing that unfold, the mushroom industry seized that moment to introduce the portobello.  To make it happen, marketing experts (Don Draper?) were enlisted to sell the heretofore mushroom discards to the general public as healthful delicacies. Ingenious! No?

Along the way, the mushroom promoters experimented with names: Portobello? Portobella? Portobella? Today, those names are used interchangeably. They also promoted the brown portobellos as a healthier (albeit more earthy-appearing) alternative to the pristine younger white button mushroom strain of Agaricus bisporus that had dominated the market since they were popularized in 18th Century France.

But how? The public had to be sold on the deep musty flavor and scent of the “new” mushrooms. (As mushrooms mature, they lose some of their water content and the flavor of the mushroom intensifies.) The PR men pulled that one off brilliantly. The portobellos were promoted as having a “picked fresh from the forest floor” scent and taste. You’ve gotta respect the sheer chutzpah of that “forrest floor” line! 

The growing health food conscious public (literally) ate it up.  Today, portobello mushrooms make up a substantial part of the billion dollar U.S. mushroom industry. 

I’m a portobello fan. I’m first in line to enjoy a juicy grilled portobello as a main or on a bun. Sometimes, though, I long for preparations that take the mushrooms in new directions. This innovative portobello mushroom recipe, Portobello Mushroom Steaks And Butter Bean Mash, fits that bill perfectly. 

This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Flavor. The book is excellent and is available on Amazon and in your local bookstores.

I’m imagining myself enjoying a bowl of this wonderful Fasolada soup on a lazy afternoon in a boisterous Greek taverna. Outside, the turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea lap gently against faded fishing boats beached on the sand . Bottles of Fix beer and a carafe (or two) of retsina are lined up on my table. The sublime music of Mikis Theodorakis fills the space. (There is a handsome Greek guy too, but that is another story.)

Fasolada is a traditional Greek dish. In fact, some call it the Greek National Dish. I guess Moussaka and Fasolada will have to fight it out for that title. They’re both Olympian contenders to be sure.

As the story goes, the King of Athens, traveling to Crete to kill the Minotaur, needed a sacrifice to honor the god Apollo. When the time came, the cupboards were pretty bare and bean soup (fasolada) was presented as the offering. Greeks have been celebrating and enjoying the soup ever since.

In addition to being thrifty, this soup is healthy. It is rich in protein, iron and fiber. It also incorporates a good stir of heart-healthy olive oil at the end of cooking to give it its wonderful creamy texture.

Hope you enjoy this soup.

Bon Appetit or, as the Greeks say, Καλή όρεξη!

This recipe is adapted from one that appears in The Milk Street Cookbook. You can buy the book here.

This salad is a stunner.

Couscous laced with black beans, corn, red pepper, green onions and dressed in a lime juice and olive oil dressing… How could that not be wonderful?

And, did I mention that it is fast to make? It can be on your table in 35 minutes, although I like to leave it to marinate in the lime juice dressing longer. The salad can be served at room temperature or chilled.

This recipe is adapted from one I found on the Allrecipes site. I used to love Allrecipes but, alas, the site has undergone a major remake in recent months and lost its way.

Recipe: Black Bean and Couscous Salad

1 C. uncooked couscous
1 1/4 C. vegetable broth
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
3 T. fresh lime juice
1 t. red wine vinegar
1/2 t. ground cumin
6-8 chopped green onions
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 to 1/2 C. chopped fresh cilantro
1 C. corn kernels
2 15-ounce cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Stir couscous into boiling broth. Cover, remove from heat and let couscous sit until you have prepared the rest of the ingredients (at least 5 minutes).

Combine olive oil, cumin, red wine vinegar and lime juice in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat. I used my hands to be sure the mixture is thoroughly mixed. Add couscous to the bowl of vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I think this salad is at its best at room temperature where you can enjoy the flavor of the olive oil in the dressing, but it can also be served chilled. You can also drizzle a bit of olive oil on the salad at serving time or spritz a bit more lime juice on the salad.

I sprinkled a pinch of whole cumin seeds on my salad and garnished it with cilantro sprigs and slices of beautiful fresh tomatoes I bought at this week’s Farmers Market.

Here is the link to the AllRecipes site: Allrecipes Black Bean and Couscous Salad

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