pita stuffed with roasted mushrooms and sautéed rainbow chard

I had leftover mushrooms and leftover sautéed chard, so I invented this sandwich. It’s fantastic!

the sandwich

pita breads, cut in half (I prefer whole wheat)
roasted mushrooms (see recipe, below)
sautéed chard (see recipe, below)
tomato slices
homemade Russian dressing (see recipe, below)

1. Warm the mushrooms and chard if they aren’t already. (I just put the leftovers in the microwave to warm them.)
2. Spoon the dressing into the pita, covering all surfaces well.
3. Pile in sauteed chard, then roasted mushrooms, then tomato slices. Try not to overload it too much, but the happy thing about a pita is that it is pretty good at keeping everything inside.
4. Have a big napkin handy, and devour!

roasted mushrooms

1 pound oyster mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
2 tablespoons garlic oil (either of the two versions, below)
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and coat a heavy rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice the mushrooms into ½-inch slices, cutting off the ends of any particularly large stems.
3. Toss the mushroom slices with the the oil and salt and spread out in a single layer on the baking sheet. If they don’t fit in a single layer, use an additional baking sheet, because they will steam instead of roast if they aren’t directly on the sheet.
4. Roast for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and flip them all around with a spatula. If they are brown and crispy in places, and completely tender, they are done, but if not, continue roasting until browned and perfect. (See the photograph on the website if you like.)

olive oil infused with roasted garlic

several heads of garlic, cloves peeled
olive oil (you don’t need extra-virgin olive oil for this—the garlic imparts so much flavor that you can use regular olive oil)

1. Put all the whole peeled garlic cloves in a heavy pot. Cover the garlic cloves completely with olive oil.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Give the garlic a stir, and then turn the heat down to the absolute lowest possible heat, cover the pot, and simmer just at a bare bubble. Stir the garlic occasionally and continue to cook until the garlic cloves are completely soft and tender, and you can easily squish them against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. This will probably take an hour or more, but check after 45 minutes.
3. Uncover the pot and let cool. Strain the garlic from the oil. This garlic can be used in any recipe that calls for roasted garlic (for example, in the Southwest Caesar Salad, or in the Hummus in the cookbook or on the website). If you make a soup or a stew that needs a little extra pizzaz, just scoop out a few cloves, mash them with a fork, and add them to your dish to really pump up the flavor. You can freeze the garlic indefinitely (I keep it in pint-sized canning jars in the freezer), and just take it out when you need it.

garlic oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. Mash or mince the garlic cloves and cover with the olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time.
2. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.

rainbow chard sauteed with chard stems & onions
You can use rainbow chard, or red chard, or (my favorite) Swiss chard for this recipe.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
sea salt or kosher salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bunches rainbow chard, stems diced into ½-inch pieces and leaves washed and sliced into 1-inch slices

1. Heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and the chard stems over medium heat with a teaspoon of salt until tender, adding a couple tablespoons of water every now and then when the pan dries out and the vegetables start sticking. You can cover the pan with a lid for this part if you like. This will probably take about 10 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes. Then add the chard leaves and sauté for another 5-10 minutes, until the chard leaves are lovely and tender.  Taste for salt, and add more to taste.

homemade Russian dressing
This dressing recipe was inspired by a similar one in the new Moosewood cookbook, Moosewood New Classics.

½ cup tomato, diced
1/3 cup prepared mayonnaise, or Vegenaise (egg-free mayonnaise)
3 scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth and creamy.