Simple Supper - Portobello mushrooms with roasted garlic, grilled goats cheese and caramelised onion chutney

H blew back home like a beautiful little energetic tornado that had gathered books and clothes and boots and dry goods and pots and pans on it's journey, then carefully deposited them in any available space she could find.

I'd been doing my own whirlwind impression too having a major sort out and redecoration of my little study/studio space. So with all the displaced objects both mine and hers, finding anything has been almost impossible over the last few weeks. 

At times like these simple supper dishes like this are a gift. 

Portobello mushrooms with roasted garlic and grilled goats cheese.

Ingredients:

• One Portobello mushroom per person
• One clove of garlic per person roasted using this method
• Olive oil until soft and mellow.
• Black pepper and possible sea salt
• A little olive oil or butter
• Goats cheese. This is a good local one

Method:

1. If roasting the garlic this should be done first following the instruction here. I had some left over from roasting vegetables for Sunday lunch. Alternatively you can use a little crushed or minced fresh garlic.
2. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms reserving to use at a later time for soup or sauce. Place the mushrooms stalk side up on an oven and grill proof dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Season with black pepper and depending how salty the cheese is you may also want to use salt too.
3. Remove the skin from the garlic cloves and crush them to a paste, topping each mushroom with some.
4. Cut a slice of goats cheese about a centimetre or so and place on top of each mushroom. Use more slices depending on the size of the mushrooms and the dimensions of the cheese.
5. Drizzle with a little olive oil. It's also nice to add a sprig of your favourite herb at this point. Thyme would work very well with the earthy mushrooms.
6. Bake in a moderate oven for about fifteen to twenty minutes until the mushroom is cooked and the cheese melting.
7. Grill for a few minutes under a hot grill to brown the cheese.

I served ours with caramelised red onion chutney and baby cucumber and radish sliced thinly into a  light salad that complimented the creamy cheese.

Quick egg fried rice, chicken noodle soup and roasted chickens  either with roasted vegetables or salad have been regular occurrence whilst we've sorted and recycled and re-arranged and painted. Thanks to sweet melons and bowls of cherries and peaches baking hasn't been missed.

But at last we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things are finding new homes. The smell of paint is subsiding and a calm and order is beginning to return. I can't wait to get the baking pans out again...the apples we scrumped on the way back from a river walk will make a perfect pie with the  blackberries in the pantry...my tummy's rumbling just thinking about those dark berry juices bubbling up through crunchy pastry...mmm...