As I've mentioned, I'm not the biggest mushroom fan. So when two huge, meaty portobellos showed up at my doorstep, courtesy of Washington's Green Grocer, I have to admit I was a little terrified. But I didn't want to simply put it in a sauce or make it a side dish. I wanted it to be the star.
I opted for making a portobello burger. And oh my god, I'm having dreams now about eating another one. I get sad when it's time to eat a meal and it's not this delicious burger. Why have I not had one of these before?
The real trick was just making sure the other flavors involved were as delicious as possible. I went for a portobello burger on a whole wheat English muffin (they're what I had around), topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. What you'll need:
Portobello mushroom, capped and washed
kosher salt
ground pepper
yellow onion, sliced
olive oil
butter
table salt
sugar (optional)
blue cheese
English muffin
First I started with the caramelized onions. It's simple to turn onions into the most deliciously sweet but acidic dish by adding some olive oil and butter to a pan. The butter should be about 1 tbsp. per whole onion. The olive oil will help keep the butter's burning temperature down so it can stay in the pan for the long haul.
I kept my pan on a solid medium and added the onion, chopped so it was in long strips. Then I just waited and occasionally stirred for the next 40 minutes or so. After they started looking good and brown, I added salt to taste and a little sugar, just to help along the caramelization process. This is optional, but I figured it'd help balance the flavor. If the onions start to stick to the pan, instead of turning down the heat, just splash on a little water. It'll evaporate and the onions will be fine.
Cooking the portobellos couldn't have been easier. I don't have any outdoor space, so I just used a grilltop pan for my gas stove. I coated both sides of the mushroom in olive oil and put kosher salt and cracked some pepper on the underside of the cap. It took about 5 minutes for these mushrooms to transform from their normal rubbery texture to juicy, tender portobello patties.
Here's the mushrooms at the beginning of cooking:
And here they are almost ready to go:
I toasted my English muffin for some added texture, and I'm really glad I did. Portobellos can be really soft, and I like having a little crunch to counterbalance that. I'd recommend using any kind of toasted, crispy bread. The other bonus of the English muffin (besides the fact that they're pretty darn healthy if you get the right kind) is that without a lot of inner bread to soak up the juices of the portobello, it and never turned mushy.
After that, I just piled the portobello and onions onto the bun and added some blue cheese I recently bought. I'm a huge stilton fan, and usually get it, but I was inspired to branch out recently. I was a little bummed out this weekend and decided there was a good way to self soothe. So I went to Safeway and got everything I needed: blue cheese, crackers, M&Ms and wine. Worked like a charm.
Anyhow, dinner turned out amazingly! In my next two entries, we'll look at the sides me and my friend created for our portobello feast.
I opted for making a portobello burger. And oh my god, I'm having dreams now about eating another one. I get sad when it's time to eat a meal and it's not this delicious burger. Why have I not had one of these before?
The real trick was just making sure the other flavors involved were as delicious as possible. I went for a portobello burger on a whole wheat English muffin (they're what I had around), topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. What you'll need:
Portobello mushroom, capped and washed
kosher salt
ground pepper
yellow onion, sliced
olive oil
butter
table salt
sugar (optional)
blue cheese
English muffin
First I started with the caramelized onions. It's simple to turn onions into the most deliciously sweet but acidic dish by adding some olive oil and butter to a pan. The butter should be about 1 tbsp. per whole onion. The olive oil will help keep the butter's burning temperature down so it can stay in the pan for the long haul.
I kept my pan on a solid medium and added the onion, chopped so it was in long strips. Then I just waited and occasionally stirred for the next 40 minutes or so. After they started looking good and brown, I added salt to taste and a little sugar, just to help along the caramelization process. This is optional, but I figured it'd help balance the flavor. If the onions start to stick to the pan, instead of turning down the heat, just splash on a little water. It'll evaporate and the onions will be fine.
Cooking the portobellos couldn't have been easier. I don't have any outdoor space, so I just used a grilltop pan for my gas stove. I coated both sides of the mushroom in olive oil and put kosher salt and cracked some pepper on the underside of the cap. It took about 5 minutes for these mushrooms to transform from their normal rubbery texture to juicy, tender portobello patties.
Here's the mushrooms at the beginning of cooking:
And here they are almost ready to go:
I toasted my English muffin for some added texture, and I'm really glad I did. Portobellos can be really soft, and I like having a little crunch to counterbalance that. I'd recommend using any kind of toasted, crispy bread. The other bonus of the English muffin (besides the fact that they're pretty darn healthy if you get the right kind) is that without a lot of inner bread to soak up the juices of the portobello, it and never turned mushy.
After that, I just piled the portobello and onions onto the bun and added some blue cheese I recently bought. I'm a huge stilton fan, and usually get it, but I was inspired to branch out recently. I was a little bummed out this weekend and decided there was a good way to self soothe. So I went to Safeway and got everything I needed: blue cheese, crackers, M&Ms and wine. Worked like a charm.
Anyhow, dinner turned out amazingly! In my next two entries, we'll look at the sides me and my friend created for our portobello feast.
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