Tomatoes, mushrooms, charred romaine - oh my!

On a trip around our local "Central Market" grocery store the other day, we had a snack of mushrooms/tomatoes/parmesan, etc. It was delicious. Having just seen this post from Dan Souza  I was intrigued with an approach to cooking mushrooms. So merging the two ideas, I came up with this. Well, not quite. Normally I would serve this on grilled bread - as a bruschetta, but for last night I wanted something lighter, so I served it almost as a dressing for a charred Romaine lettuce heart. It came out really well, I am glad to say.

Ingredients

2T high quality olive oil (divided use)

1 1/2 lbs mixed cherry tomatoes, halved

8 oz mixed mushrooms (I used white buttons, and creminis), thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly

3 oz grated parmesan

Some hot pepper flavor (I used vodka infused with cayenne), but pepper flakes would work

1 bunch parsley, chopped fine

4T sherry vinegar (divided use)

4t high quality olive oil for plate decoration

salt/pepper to taste

3 hearts of Romaine, cut into 3 inch lengths, using only the trimmed root, halved lengthwise

1T Olive oil 

Coarse sea salt for crunch

Method

Make the topping first:

In a skillet heat 1 T of the olive oil. When shimmering, add the halved tomatoes and let cook for a few minutes - until soft and the juices have run out. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook until fragrant. The liquid stops the garlic from burning, but you do want to give it time to cook through and remove the bitterness. Add in the parmesan, stirring to stop it clumping. Then the hot pepper and allow to cook down some more. Finally add the parsley and 1 T of the sherry vinegar. Turn off heat and allow to come to room temp. Check the seasoning and add salt/pepper if needed.

Now for the lettuce:

Heat a lightly oiled griddle (ridged side up if you have that option) until it is just smoking. While the griddle is heating, oil the Romaine halves on the flat sides, season lightly with salt and pepper. When the griddle is hot, sear the romaine hearts, ut side down until well charred and (if using a ridged griddle) with definite markings.

Pu the grilled romaine, flat, charred side up onto a small plate. Top lightly with the tomato miture. Drizzle oil and vinegar over the topping and onto the plate. Grind some black pepper onto the topping and the plate. Finish with coarse sea salt.

We served this with the excellent, "On the White Keys" - the 2011 from Arietta