Grilled Chive-Mushrooms

A first spring harvest of slender green spears... chives from the garden were the catalyst for this delicious dish. These chive-marinaded mushrooms are grilled along with heirloom cherry tomatoes and garnished with salted cashews. Deceptively easy to prepare, the vegetables are bursting with fresh flavour whether oven-roasted or cooked on the BBQ.
You'll Need: 1 bunch of chives (1/4 cup finely chopped chives) 1-2 chive flowers; a squirt of fresh lemon juice; 8-10 baby Portabello mushrooms, 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar; 1/2 teaspoon agave (or other sweetener) sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste, cherry tomatoes. juice. Lettuce, and salted cashews for garnish.

 In a large bowl, whisk 2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon agave, salt, cayenne pepper together.  Chop chives into very fine pieces, and add to marinade in the bowl. 
Separate the chive blossoms into individual petals, sprinkle with lemon juice and set aside. 

Wipe the mushroom carefully with a damp cloth, or rinse under running water and pat dry. 

Snap stems from mushroom caps and place both stems and caps in the marinade, mixing well to make certain mushroom pieces are well-coated and caps are filled with chive mixture. Let mushrooms marinade in chive oil for at least 1/2 hour. They can be  refrigerated in the marinade overnight.
Remove mushrooms from the marinade. Diced the stems into very small pieces and return to bowl and mix with remainder of chive marinade. Fill the mushroom caps with the chive/stem mix. Place under grill in oven, or on BBQ and cook until tender and juicy.

When mushrooms are about 5 minutes from completion, add the cherry tomatoes to the grill. 

Coarsely chop roasted salted cashews and garnish the cooked mushrooms with a dusting of the crunchy nuts. Sprinkle chive flowers over top.


Serve on a bed of butter lettuce with grill heirloom cherry tomatoes.