Portabella Steak Pizzas

One of our favorite meals ever comes from my favorite blogger ever, The Pioneer Woman.  Her Steakhouse Pizza is absolutely to-die-for.  So delicious.  We could probably eat it 5 times a week.  Seriously, make it one night.  So I really wanted to reinvent it, Paleo-style.  This was a slightly difficult task, especially since the best ingredient in any pizza is cheese, and we are not eating dairy.  How can you even make pizza without the cheese!?  I know, right.  Well, to make up for the lack of cheese, I decided to pump up the flavor and richness of the dish in other ways.  I could have probably made a pizza crust out of Paleo-friendly ingredients- I know there are recipes out there for almond flour dough and such.  But I really wanted to make an effort to step up in the vegetable-meat area rather than sticking to using almonds to substitute for everything.  So, I went with portabella mushrooms as the "crust" and made mini personal pizzas.  I kept most of the ingredients the same as the original recipe, except of course I omitted all the cheese.  My husband and I both agreed that this was delicious, but we did miss the cheese a bit... so if you are eating dairy, by all means- top these bad boys with mozzarella and parmesan!  Here is what I did:

Portabella Steak Pizzas
(serves 2)

• 2 portabella mushroom caps
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• olive oil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c homemade pizza sauce
• salt & pepper
• 10-15 THIN slices of grilled medium rare steak (I used leftover london broil from last night- if you don't have leftovers, grill up a london broil, skirt steak, or flank steak to slice)
• Drizzle of steak sauce (I have some homemade in the fridge- probably not perfectly Paleo but close enough to use minimal amounts- so, it is optional but delicious)

Preparation 
Heat a skillet over medium-low and add 1 T of olive oil.  Throw in the onion slices and 1 T balsamic vinegar and let them slowly cook for about 20 minutes.  You want these to get nice and caramelized, so let them cook slow and low.  In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Place the mushroom caps round side up and drizzle some olive oil on top.  Season them with some salt and pepper.  Bake them in the oven for 5 minutes, until they firm up a bit.  Mix your pizza sauce with the remaining 1 T of balsamic vinegar until well combined.  Remove the caps from the oven and flip them over so the hollow part is facing up.  Fill each cap with sauce, and then lay the caramelized onions across the top of each one.  Place them back in the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove the caps and lay the slices of steak across the top of each one.  *Since my steak had been in the fridge, I put them back in the oven to heat the steak for a few minutes but if you are using freshly grilled steak, just lay it on there nice and warm.  Drizzle some steak sauce over top of each one and serve!

These were delicious and actually very filling.  If you have never had portabella mushrooms before (first of all you are missing out), they are really meaty and thick and make a pretty filling meal.  I will definitely be trying this again (hopefully next time with cheese!), but I would highly recommend you try it out!