Receta Vegan Vegetable Mufaletta
Vegan Vegetable Mufaletta
I remember when I was entertaining the idea of starting a blog. I went back and forth on whether or not I would have enough (interesting) content to fill the pages. It's clear I love to cook, as I did back then, but I still wondered if it would be compelling enough to grab people.
That's why I decided, when I launched La Pure Mama, that it wouldn't just be a food blog. Yeah, little known fact: did you know La Pure Mama wasn't originally intended to solely be a food blog? I was striving for one of those awesome hybrid blogs that not only has really fantastical recipes but also pearls of wisdom about children child, crafts, household whatnot, crafty things... you get the idea.
As I got more into it I decided that my fantastical ideas weren't so, but my cooking might be something. Because even if you're not 'vegan' or 'vegetarian' doesn't mean you don't want to go meatless once a week or so.
My point in telling you this is because one of the first foodie things I ever posted on here was a mufaletta. We love us some mufaletta around this house and to veganize something so delicious became a personal mission of mine. And personally? I think it's better. Far less of a 'gut bomb' than a traditional meat laden mufaletta, this one is stuffed to the gills with vegetables.
This particular version is slightly different than my previous delicious post. That's the nice thing about mufaletta, you can use what you have and it turns out delish either way. Something else lovely: it's a great 'on the go' meal. We have packed it with us to wine tastings, concerts in the park, road trips, you name it.
Need:
1 loaf of artisan bread
- 2 or 3 portabello mushrooms
- 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- 1 sweet white onion, sliced thick
- Olive oil
- 1/4 cup pesto
- 1 jar roasted red peppers; you can also use the multi colored roasted peppers if you choose
- 1 jar olive 'spread' or you can make it yourself... I have done both
- About 1/2 bunch fresh italian flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper
Do:
Slice the bread lengthwise (the whole thing) and scoop out most of the soft middle, leaving some on the sides. Save the soft middle for breadcrumbs or feeding to the birds or feeding to yourself, dipped in olive spread while you put your sandwich together.
De-stem the portabello mushrooms so you have just caps. With a spoon, gently scrape the 'gills' out of the cap. Don't worry about getting 'all' the gills, just get most; do your best.
Heat a pan (I used my Mario Batali grill pan) with a little oil and the chopped garlic, then add the portabello mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they're soft, then remove and lay on a towel to soak up any extra moisture.
Add a little more oil to the pan and sautee onions until soft and brown. Set aside.
Spread the pesto on both sides of the bread then top with olive spread.
On bottom half of bread, top olive spread with the portabello mushrooms. On top of that pile the roasted red peppers on top. On top of that pile the onions.
Top the whole thing with the chopped parsley and a little salt and pepper, then place bread top on top.
Wrap the whole thing very tight with saran wrap. The point is that you want to compress the sandwich. I wrap it up and then put it in the fridge with my LeCreuset lid on top.Let it sit for a while... 1/2 hour or so.
Serve:
To serve, unwrap from saran wrap and slice in half first. From there slice in quarters and if you choose, slice in eighths. We usually leave it in quarters.
Serve alongside a lovely green salad for a delicious, healthy and filling meal.
Enjoy!
Portabella Mushrooms