I love mushrooms but my wife doesn't, so I rarely bother with them. My four year old son, however, seems to love them any time he's tried them. So I got a couple portobello caps with the thought I would make a burger for each of us. I've never made one, and there's a million recipes online, but I figured I would see if there's anyone has any pointers or suggestions? I'm thinking the stem and gills finely chopped and sautéed in some butter with some onions would go great as a sauce.

On the grill or a panini type press. This is an awesome recipe I've been using for years. Grill is by far the preferred method.

Take your mushroom caps and score them several ways crisscrossing for the marinade to get into.

Marinade -
~ 1 cup olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic minced
~ 1 1/2 t dill
Salt and pepper
~ 1/3rd cup Balsamic vinegar

After mixing pour over mushrooms in a gallon ziplock and marinade for 1-3 hours. Save the marinade for basting.

On the grill at medium heat they will grill for about half hour - 40 minutes. Baste and turn repeatedly about every 10 minutes. The basting keeps them from charring. The long cooking time makes them very tender. When almost done top with some quality Swiss cheese. Toasted buns make it extra special. Serve with A-1 steak sauce.

quote:

I'm thinking the stem and gills finely chopped and sautéed in some butter with some onions would go great as a sauce.

we do similar with Pesto;
they heat well and rapidly in the microwave as well. We haven't found any real advantage to chopping the gills so leave them intact.

We often add a bit of shredded mozzzrella or other favorite. 60-90 seconds is plenty to get a big plate size portobello to eating condition. It's easy to overheat them too fast as well.

I like to coat them in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and/or Tony's Cajun, and then fill the caps with blue cheese and brie cheese before placing them on the grill. Those cheeses can be strong for some. My alternate(s) would be mozzarella, pepper jack, or Swiss.

Michael

I take the gills and stem out, then put 1 teaspoon or 2 of olive oil and some Lawry's garlic salt.....I have also put some seasoned feta cheese or mozzarella in them......then put roasted peppers on top and throw it in a hamburger bun.

I don't have a recipe, but I once had a portobello mushroom cap burger that had a slice of pineapple and teriyaki sauce on it. Very tasty.

On BBQ weekends, my wife gets the Portobello and I grill it like a burger for her. I dont think you can cook them long (burn) or to short (raw) she loves them all the same.

quote:

Originally posted by mdblanton:
I like to coat them in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and/or Tony's Cajun, and then fill the caps with blue cheese and brie cheese before placing them on the grill. Those cheeses can be strong for some. My alternate(s) would be mozzarella, pepper jack, or Swiss.
Michael

Prety much what I do.
No need to overthink it, basic is just as good as fancy (sometimes better) if done right. Blue cheese or Feta are both faves at my house.

Well, based on the replies, what I did was keep it simple for the first outing. Rocked out the stems and carefully scraped out the gills into a bowl, and lightly sprayed the caps with olive oil.

I put the caps in the toaster oven at 425 caps up for five minutes, then flipped them for another five.

While that was happening, I finely minced the stalks and sauteed all the bits in pesto and butter.

The sautee was done by the ten minute mark and I evenly spooned in the mixture between the two caps as best I could. One was wide, thin and flat. The other was a tall cup shape at the same diameter. Both got Lucerne sharp white cheddar shreds to top and another three minutes or so for that to melt.

I have no words. That was far too amazing for how simple it was to make. I also have no pictures because my son was waiting and I wasn't about to waste a second making either of us wait for pictures. He said it's his new favorite and asked if we could do it again soon. Sure thing, kiddo.

Thanks for the tips.

If you wet them and let them sit for 5-10 mins, the gills scrape out with almost no effort at all.