Recipe: Grilled Meatless Mushroom Burgers

Grilled Meatless Mushroom Burgers

Even card-carrying carnivores enjoy burgers made with big, brown, meaty-tasting portabella mushrooms. Though it sounds exotic, the portabella mushroom is just an overgrown brown mushroom, with a flavor that increases dramatically as it grows in size. Most markets carry them either loose or packaged as caps. If parents take charge of grilling, kids can do the rest of the steps, including rinsing and preparing the hamburger condiments.

Preparation time: 5 minutes, plus time for setting up condiments
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Yield: 4 burgers

Ingredients and Steps

2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 portabella mushroom caps, each about 4 to 5 inches in diameter
4 hamburger buns or rolls

Peel and mince the garlic.
Combine garlic, soy sauce, and olive oil. Set aside.
Remove mushroom stems and reserve for another use. Wipe mushroom caps with a damp paper towel to remove any debris.
Place mushrooms caps in a large shallow dish, feathery gills facing down. Rub or brush one-quarter of the marinade over the tops, coating the cap surface.
Flip the caps over and spoon the sauce on the gill side of the mushrooms, coating the edges as well. (You should have just enough sauce to drizzle on the underside, not enough to saturate.) Marinate at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.
Grill over medium heat, or broil (as described in Chapter 13), about 4 minutes on each side, or until softened, but not mushy.
Serve on hamburger buns or wheat rolls with your favorite hamburger condiments, or with a dab of Hummus Sauce.

Serving Suggestion: If desired, flip the mushrooms with their gills facing up and place a slice of cheese on them. Cover the grill and turn off the heat, letting the cheese melt (about a minute or so).

While cooking the mushrooms, you can also grill the bread. Toast hamburger buns or rolls indirectly, to the side of the heat. Watch them closely to make sure they don't burn.