Charlottesville: Sweet, savory dinner

Traveling is my zen place. Whether it is to a different part of town or the other side of the country, the new space is my comfort zone.

Fortunately, I travel a lot for work, so this appeases my inner wanderlust on a regular basis. The second best thing about traveling, other than the scenery, is the various food items that I am exposed to during said trips.

Liz and recently enjoyed a quick trip to Charlottesville, Virginia for a new client. The downtown area spoke to my heart with cobblestone pathways, turn of the century buildings, vintage shops, stores dedicated to afternoon cake and a mecca of fabulous restaurants. Our lady date to Commonwealth (Liz shares her story here), proved to be an excellent local recommendation.

In an effort to share this fabulous meal with Travis, I recreated my dinner and added a little twist of my own.

Baked new potatoes with caramelized onions and oyster mushrooms

(serves 2)
8-10 small new potatoes - washed and cut in half
1 bunch of oyster mushrooms (about one cup)
1 yellow onion
6 Tablespoons of butter
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of white wine
Salt & pepper

Boil the potatoes in salted water until fork tender. Slice onions into thin rings and coat with olive oil. Place in a frying pan/skillet with 4 tablespoons of butter on medium-high heat. Spread the onions to an even layer and leave them be for five minutes to start the carmelization process. Clean and separate mushrooms while you are waiting patiently to turn the onions. Remember, leave them be for five minutes. Set the clean mushrooms aside.

After patiently waiting, it's time to turn the onions, coating them in the melted better. Once turned, leave them until they start to turn translucent. You may think you should salt the onions during this process, but it is best to wait so the onions don't sweat out that sweet yellow onion flavor.

Once the onions start to turn translucent (clear), reduce heat to medium, add brown sugar and wine. Simmer until the liquid is reduced to half.

While the onions simmer, go back to the potatoes really quick, since we are multitaskers. Drain the potatoes and place on a baking sheet, cut side down. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Add additional olive oil and coat, if you prefer.

Now, toss a pinch of salt into the onions, stir and remove from heat. Leave the onions to sit in the pan while completing the rest of the meal (for heat and marinating purposes).

Melt the remainder of the butter in a separate, small skillet. Add the mushrooms, flat side down to give it a browned crust - almost like you would with meat. Once brown, turn, salt and heavily pepper the other side. The mushrooms should have their own real estate in the pan so they may lay flat.

Assemble the meal with the mushrooms on the bottom, potatoes next and a cascade of bountiful onions on top.

Enjoy!

Note: I served this with roasted Brussels sprouts (cut in half, toss in olive oil and a lot of salt, bake at 375 - 400 degrees until a charred skin appears and sprouts are fork tender), tomato salad (cherry tomatoes tossed in balsamic vinegar, salt, red pepper flakes and olive oil) and crusty bread.