Recipe - Spicy Garlic Portobello Burger

It doesn't take much convincing to get me to stuff my face full of mushrooms. Sometimes when I go into restaurants, I get tempted to order their Portobello burgers because the thought of a giant Portobello as my patty makes me salivate. Roasted mushroom goodness that will consume my plate? Yes, please! I never thought of making it at home though because I don't currently have a grill I could use. However, after some looking around online, I realized that I could always just roast the "patty" and enjoy it. Then I wondered more about roasting...what would happen if I cracked an egg directly onto the mushroom?! The gills could hold it (some people scrape gills off but I like them intact), and you could season with a spread of some sort. Duc had also just finished his last kale harvest of the season so we needed to use those up. Thus, a burger was made from the mushroom, kale, tomatoes, and some whole wheat thin buns. Give this simple recipe a try yourself!


Step 1: Ingredients (yields 2 servings)

• 2 giant Portobello mushrooms
• 4 Tbsps smoked olive oil (can use regular but smoked gives a better taste)
• 4 Tbsps spicy garlic spread, divided (crush together garlic, cayenne, and lemon juice)
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 Tbsp garlic salt
• 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 Roma tomato, sliced
• 6-7 Tuscan kale leaves, folded
• 2 sets of buns

Step 2: Prepping the mushrooms
Preheat oven to 425°F. The Portobellos we got were beauties from the Hollywood Farmers' Market. Some people like to scrape off the gills under the cap of the mushrooms but not us. We just cleaned the mushrooms and removed the stems carefully.Using a pastry brush, brush the smoked olive oil on the caps of the Portobellos. Then flip the cap over onto a greased, foil-wrapped baking sheet. Spread 1 Tbsp of the garlic spread on each mushroom's underside, leaving space in the middle. Crack an egg in the middle.


Step 3: Cooking the egg
Top the whole thing with the chopped parsley and garlic salt. Recall that the egg will cook quickly in the oven so watch your clock carefully. Insert tray into the oven for about 2-3 minutes until you hear or see that the egg has started to fry. It should cling to the mushroom's gills. Flip over and cook for another 10-15 minutes so allow more water to escape from the Portobello (which will also keep your egg from burning!).


Step 4: Finishing
Sure you could fry a separate egg for the burger but why do that when you can make it all together? We spread the remaining garlic spread on the top buns of our bread before assembly. I liked the kale at the very top followed by tomato slices and then the mushroom. Give it a whirl yourself!


Photography by Duc Duong.