Portobello Burgers

(p.s. only 4 days left to vote in the VegNews Awards... I'm nominated for fave vegblog and fave cookbook author. So, please vote in these last few days if you haven't done so already. Then I'll stop nagging!) :)
These burgers have become our summer Sunday dinner. If you listened to the VF podcast, you'll know that every Sunday I stock up at our local farmers' market, and every week I bring home plump, fresh organic portobello mushrooms.

I've been marinating and grilling the mushroom caps on our bbq. Basically, I create a simple marinade of a couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar, a few glugs of ev olive oil, and one or two large cloves of garlic, grated into the oil/vinegar using a kitchen rasp. Gently and carefully pull the stems away from the caps (bracing the full cap in the palm of your other hand). I then also scrape away the gills of the mushroom. You don't have to do this, it's a personal preference for me. Sometimes the gills are a touch dirty, or if the mushrooms aren't very fresh, they can be a little mushy, so simply scrape them away with a spoon if you like. Place the mushroom caps (I usually have 4 or 5) in the marinade, and move them gently through to coat. Let sit for 1/2 hour or more, and move the mushrooms around again once or twice to distribute the marinade. Much of the marinade will get absorbed into the caps, but if there is some left, use a spoon to help distribute it around the caps. Then grill! About 5-6 minutes on each side until you have lovely grill marks and the mushrooms have become tender and juicy. Be sure to give each side of the mushrooms a lil' dose of freshly ground black pepper and sea slat. If there is still marinade left, baste the mushrooms with it during the grilling. (note: don't add the salt to the marinade - wait until grilling. The salt will draw the juices out of the mushrooms, so wait until they are on the hot grill to season.)

Serve up your burgers as you like, on buns, in pitas, or even in a whole-wheat tortilla, as per this post. Our local store (Choices) has just started stocking whole-wheat burger and hot dog buns (yay!) so I've used those in this photo. Now, these burgers are even more magically delicious if you also grill some sliced red onion with a touch of s&p and ev olive oil. Then, add any other condiments you like - though you may not want to mess with the taste of the mushrooms and onions all on their own!

Here, I've served the burgers with some oven-roasted organic potatoes and a fresh salad - all from the farmers' market. Summer is good, I will miss it.

But, to keep us from getting the fall blues, we will have a Salba giveaway this fall! Nice guessing by Heather and VegNextDoor. For the rest of you that weren't getting my clue from my last post, the hang' tough clue refers to this. I know, that was sneaky. But fun. :)

Will be back in a few days with giveaway details! Until then, get yourself some portobellos and get marinating and grilling!