Portabello French Dip

This recipe comes from one of my two favorite cookbooks - The Cafe Flora Cookbook. When James was first diagnosed, we were at a loss as to where to get a tasty meal out. Cafe Flora totally fits the bill with an entirely vegetarian menu with many vegan options. James orders this French Dip sandwich pretty much every time we're there.

The Cafe Flora Cookbook is pretty complex with many steps, but the results of each dish are amazing. The pieces that come together to make this fabulous dish are as follows: mushroom essence (the broth), roasted portabellos, carmellized onions, and an herbed buttery spread.

The broth starts as 6 cups of water, half a pound of mushrooms and some garlic, and it reduces down to 2 cups of broth, then is boosted with some Tamari. While this is reducing, I started the onions to carmellizing and prepped the portabellos. The portabellos are roasted with a coating of crushed garlic and olive oil, then sliced up. The herbed butter is Earth Balance spread with a bit of olive oil mixed up with sage, tarragon, thyme and basil. Once it's all assembled, I baked it for a few minutes with some almond mozzarella.

All together, this is a hearty filling meal, and honestly as a non-lover of most things fungus, I even like it. I can't even give this a verdict, since I know this'll be repeated, without a doubt!