I love Reuben’s. It has always been my go-to blue plate lunch special order. Since I stopped eating meat, this is one of the dishes I missed…that is, until I heard about portobello reubens.
So I decided to look for a recipe online. The thing is, most of the recipes I found were lacking in my opinion, in the corned beef flavor department. So I got this crazy idea. What if I used the pickling spice that is used to make corned beef and made a marinade out of it?
I like experimenting in the kitchen. And believe me I would not be sharing this recipe with you if it was a dud. The fact is it came out fantastic!
It takes a bit of prep, but so worth the effort!
Here’s what you’ll need for part one (do this a few hours before mealtime).
Ingredients
4-5 large portobello mushrooms
1/2 cup olive oil
1 TBS minced garlic
2 TBS pickling spice (McCormick brand)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
Remove the stems from the mushrooms, rinse and pat dry. In a small bowl whisk the remaining ingredients together and drizzle over the mushroom caps, bottom side up, in a shallow container.
Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate for two to three hours. (Update: Added after I cooked the leftover mushrooms a few days later…if you can marinate for at least 24 hours, you won’t regret it.)
When it’s time to put your sandwiches together assemble the following ingredients:
Thousand Island Dressing
Sauerkraut
Rye Bread (I like a rye/pumpernickel swirl)
Swiss Cheese
Butter for Grilling
Preheat the oven to 450 Degrees F. Remove the marinated mushrooms from the fridge and recycle the foil by placing it on a cookie sheet. Place mushrooms on the foil bottoms up and bake for about 20 minutes.
- Move to a plate layered with paper towels and blot the mushrooms (remove the large pickling seeds as well) before transferring them to a cutting board to slice. (Part 2 leftover update: to give your slices a nicer texture, pan seer the slices before putting your sandwiches together. A little “crisping” around the edges make a big difference!)
Butter the outer side of the rye bread and place butter side down in a frying pan (think grilled cheese sandwich style). Now it’s time to assemble your Reuben. Layer two slices if Swiss cheese, portabella mushroom slices (make sure to pat dry if needed), add Sauerkraut and a layer of thousand island dressing. Top with the second slice of rye bread, butter side up.
Cover the pan and grill until the cheese starts to melt and the bottom is brown. Carefully flip to toast the other side.
Slice and serve. Yum!
like mercury colliding... 