Ciao, Bella May 7, 2008

Although I don’t eat red meat, the one thing I miss every once in a while is a big hamburger.  Usually I’ll just have a turkey burger instead– but if I’m feeling really healthy and virtuous, I’ll grill a portabella burger.  Portabella caps are a great substitute because they’re meaty, absorb any marinade, and easy to cook.  The downside is that they are MESSY.  Soggy buns are never a good thing.

We bought a few portabella caps at Sam’s this weekend and were planning on grilling them, but then I ran across this recipe on cookinglight.com for Open-Faced Mushroom, Tomato and Goat Cheese Sandwiches.

I altered the recipe a little:

Sauteed Portabella Burgers (Serves 3-4)

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 portabella caps, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar (I LOVE vinegar.  This may be too strong for some people)
• 1 Tbs capers
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tube goat cheese (the soft kind- can’t remember how many ounces, but the pkg said 4 servings)
• 1 tomato, sliced (optional)
• Whole wheat hamburger buns

Heat olive oil in large skillet over med to med-hi. Add onions and peppers and sauté for 5 minutes (until soft).  Add sliced portabellas.  Cook another 5 minutes or so until mushrooms are soft.  Remove from heat and add vinegar, capers and salt/pepper to taste.

Toast buns in toaster or under broiler.  Spread each bun with about an oz of goat cheese.  Top with tomatoes and portabella mixture (use a slotted spoon and make sure the mushroom “juice” drains out before topping).  EAT.

Here’s a shot of the sandwich:

Roasted red peppers would be really good in this too.

We had kale chips and Alexia potato wedges on the side.  So far I’ve tried a couple of the Alexia breads, the potato wedges and 2 of the fries (crinkle and the regular sea salt variety) and I’m a HUGE fan.  They’re definitely the best frozen fries out there AND they’re not bad for you- low fat, high(ish) fiber, fairly low cal.  With the sea salt fries, you get a fairly big pile per serving too.

This go-round we topped the kale chips with Old Bay, olive oil and liquid aminos.  The Old Bay was a great addition, IMO.  Oh, and for the record, I burned my finger trying to retrieve an AWOL kale chip from the bottom of the oven.  I’ll spare you the photo this time.

Here’s the whole plate:

And yes, I did eat that entire gallon of ketchup on my 8 little potato wedges