Hearty Eggs in Portabello Purgatory

Sometimes you just need a dinner where you don’t have to think too much. Sometimes you are cleaning out your fridge to make way for Moroccan taco meat that is simmering away in your crockpot. And sometimes these two needs collide. Here’s your answer!

Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of picnic dinners, or what you might call “snacking.” That’s sort of what happens when you’re running two small businesses (my husband Jason is a chiropractic physician and I have the bake shop). Spending time on the floor with customers, in the kitchen developing new recipes, or tweaking existing ones, talking to vendors to negotiate better pricing, and managing 29 (combined) employees can take their toll. Often, by the time we get home, we are completely spent and have no energy to put together a fancy—or really, even a basic—dinner. So Jason will sliced some of the assorted cheeses we keep, I’ll slice an apple and arrange salami and pistachios on a plate, and we’ll crack some fizzy water and eat our picnic dinner.

Last night, I felt inspired. Sure, it was 8 pm. But how long could eggs and portabello mushrooms take to make, right? Did I mention that while I have wonderful commercial equipment at the shop, I have old and barely functioning equipment at home? Our oven cooks 25-40 degrees cool. We only have one burner that functions on the gas range. But we rent our house, hoping to save up eventually and buy a place that actually has a dishwasher. Jason jokes that we have one, he just doesn’t want to do dishes everyday.

Anyway, back to the eggs. I had two gorgeous portabello mushroom caps in my fridge. I wiped them down with a damp paper towel to remove any dirt. Snapped off the cap and scraped out the gills to create a space for stuffing them, drizzeled them with olive oil, 25 year balsamic vinegar, and a dusting of salt and pepper, and put them in the oven to soften and cook.