Portobello Mushrooms, Polenta, and Butternut Squash

Tonight was pretty much a no-fuss sort of night. I made portobello mushrooms in the oven, polenta in the pressure cooker, and butternut squash on the stovetop. I didn't do anything terribly fancy, and my plating is horrible (sorry, it tastes better than it looks!), but it was a nice, satisfying meal anyway.

Mushrooms: 

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup water

6 cloves of garlic

3 TBS olive oil

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp cracked rosemary (or 1/5 tsp whole rosemary)

1/2 tsp salt

Pinch sharp paprika or cayenne

5 portobello caps, cleaned and with stem and gills removed (use a spoon to take out the gills, it's the easiest way!)

Mix all of the ingredients except the mushrooms in a bowl. Place mushroom caps upside down in a baking dish (the place the gills used to be should face upward) and pour the marinade over the mushrooms, making sure every shroom is covered. Let sit for 20 minutes (or however long you have) and heat the oven to 375.  bake until they look ready, flipping about 10 minutes in, and spooning marinade over the tops. It took about 20 minutes for them to get a little flatter and wrinkly. 

While all of that is happening in the background, make the polenta. I made it in the pressure cooker by putting 3/4 cups of polenta, 3 cups of hot water, and a pinch of salt into the cooker. I whisked vigorously for a minute, then cooked it at high pressure for 10 minutes, with a natural release. You can make this stuff on the stovetop, but it's all stirring, all the time. Once it was done, I added a generous bit of a low sodium garlic and spice salt blend called Garli Garni by Garlic Festival. It needed me to be more generous; I've learned that polenta can take pretty intense flavors! Next time, I'll add some crushed garlic after cooking, to make it nice and strong.

As the pressure cooker was releasing pressure, I made the squash. I bought frozen cubed butternut, and dumped that whole bag (theoretically 5 servings, ha!) into a pan with some water. When it was hot, I added a tablespoon of coconut margarine and a tablespoon of brown sugar to give it sweetness and depth.

Remember that polenta starts out runny, but firms up once it hits the plate, so put it on the plate first. Serve with steak sauce for the shrooms and more garlic salt for the polenta.  

It gets a 3.5/5 from us.

Nutritional info for the plate, which is half of all of the recipes ^:

Calories: 497

Carbohydrates: 90

Protein: 15.3

Fat: 11.6

Fiber: 5.7

Sugars: 12.9

Vitamin A: 686%

Vitamin C: 87%

Calcium: 15%

Iron: 28%