The ingredients our test cook used for Portobellos with Cannellini and Chimichurri are shown, clockwise from bottom left: fresh parsley, mixed greens, smoked paprika, cannellini beans, red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, olive oil, oregano leaves, fresh cilantro, 6 large Portobello mushroom caps, goat cheese and garlic.
                                 Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

The ingredients our test cook used for Portobellos with Cannellini and Chimichurri are shown, clockwise from bottom left: fresh parsley, mixed greens, smoked paprika, cannellini beans, red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, olive oil, oregano leaves, fresh cilantro, 6 large Portobello mushroom caps, goat cheese and garlic.

Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

And it’s meat-free, just in time for Lent

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<p>Here are three plated salads, ready to eat, plus a large bowl of the mixed greens and beans and a small bowl of the chimichurri sauce, which contains garlic, parsley, cilantro, oregano, vinegar, oil and salt, and can be used as a dressing.</p>
                                 <p>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader</p>

Here are three plated salads, ready to eat, plus a large bowl of the mixed greens and beans and a small bowl of the chimichurri sauce, which contains garlic, parsley, cilantro, oregano, vinegar, oil and salt, and can be used as a dressing.

Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

“There’s a surprise in every bite,” news editor and taste tester Roger DuPuis said as he tasted a savory, meat-free salad of “Portobellos with Cannellini and Chimichurri” from the Times Leader test kitchen on Wednesday. “I like it.”

“Portobello mushrooms are ‘meaty,’ so they’re a good option (in a vegetarian entree),” reporter Margaret Roarty said. “And the goat cheese added a nice salty contrast to the greens, which I thought were kind of bitter.”

“I like this, and I usually don’t like salads,” Weekender entertainment writer Gabby Lang said. “I like the dressing, and I usually don’t like Italian dressing or regular dressing.”

The “dressing” was actually the chimichurri, and if you don’t know what that is, don’t feel bad. I just looked up the description this week and learned that it’s an Argentine sauce made with parsley, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar and red chili peppers or flakes.

Hmm. In that definition, there’s no mention of cilantro. But I was following a salad recipe that had been published in the December 2023 issue of Prevention magazine. (Thank you, friend Mary from Nanticoke, for renewing my subscription!)

The magazine recipe called for cilantro, and I did use that herb, even though I knew that would mean one of my most thoughtful taste testers, reporter Jen Learn-Andes, would decline a sample.

“I wish I could eat it, but it tastes like soap to me,” she told me on Wednesday. “It’s a genetic thing.”

“Joe, would you like to try a healthy, meatless salad today?” I asked executive editor Joe Soprano, suspecting that was a long shot.

“That’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t want to eat, any day,” he responded.

Columnist Bill O’Boyle tried it, and didn’t like the mushrooms. “I can’t eat them,” he said, admitting the rest of the salad was OK.

Jen, Joe and Bill were the first three potential taste testers I encountered in the newsroom, so you can see things didn’t look very promising — until Roger, Margaret and Gabby each gave the salad a try.

At home, Mark liked the salad’s “interesting blend of flavors” and I thought it was a tasty, meatless option for Lent. But the next time I make it I plan to cut down a bit on those 9 tablespoons of olive oil.

Here is the recipe, which I followed fairly exactly, except for using mixed baby greens (they were easier to find at my neighborhood store) instead of straight arugula.

Portobellos With Cannellini and Chimichurri

4 cloves garlic, divided

1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/2 cup cilantro

2 tablespoons oregano leaves

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

9 tablespoons olive oil, divided

kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

15.5 ounces can cannellini beans, rinsed

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

8 large portobello mushrooms (1.75 pounds), stemmed and gilled

8 ounces baby arugula (7 to 8 cups)

2 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1. Heat oven to 475 degrees. In food processor, pulse 2 cloves garlic to finely chop. Scrape bowl, then add herbs, vinegar, 6 tablespoons oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt; pulse to chop finely, scraping bowl as needed. Transfer to small bowl and stir in red pepper flakes; transfer 1/4 cup to large bowl and toss with beans (reserve rest for topping.)

2. Grate remaining 2 cloves garlic into small bowl, Add paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil; stir to combine. Brush onto both sides of portobellos and place portobellos, gill sides down, on rimmed baking sheet; roast 11 minutes. Flip and roast until deep brown and cooked through, 6 to 9 minutes. When cool enough to handle, transfer to cutting board and slice.

3. Add arugula to beans and toss to coat; divide among plates, then top with sliced mushrooms, goat cheese and reserved chimichurri.