Foodie Field Trip

Robin said we were going on a field trip, but would not tell me our destination.  Soon we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory, Route 123 in Vienna, Virginia (or Maple  Avenue, as it is known locally).  Our first stop was the Maple Avenue Market (128 Maple Avenue East), a smallish shop filled with locally grown and locally produced foodstuffs.

Experienced foragers, we soon found a theme for dinner - grilled open faced portobello mushroom sandwiches - and almost all the ingredients were in front of us.  The mushrooms were of medium size, dark and plump.  Boxes of tender, baby spinach leaves had just arrived.  There was one package of nitrate free bacon remaining, and lots of different goat cheeses to choose from.  Sadly we did have to resort to Whole Foods (across the street) for Maine vine ripened tomatoes; a new basil plant was sitting in our kitchen. 

When I asked about dessert, Robin said that she had it covered. Pie Gourmet, Ltd. is a small  bakery located at 507 Maple Avenue West.  As we entered we were confronted with a cabinet of fruit pies - cherry, strawberry, blackberry/peach, and another one with cream pies - chocolate, banana, coconut and key lime. It was overwhelming.  How would we choose? We  left with one cherry pie and one chocolate cream pie.

Assembling the open faced sandwich was easy.  Drizzle the mushrooms with olive oil and put them in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.  Assemble by adding goat cheese, bacon, a slice of tomato and put under the broiler for a minute and a half.  Meanwhile steam the spinach leaves for three minutes.  First, put the spinach on a plate, add the assembled portobello from the broiler and top with fresh basil.  We chose an elegant pinot noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and enjoyed the results of our field trip immensely.