This house is not a vegetarian household. Meat is my favorite food, and I cannot imagine living without it. However, there are times when I don’t feel like eating meat, and there are times when I want something fresh, light, and vegetarian.
Vegetarians, don’t get too excited. After a meal or two, I go back to eating like an animal.
I felt the urge about a week ago after reading a post by one of our very first blogger friends. When I read that he was doing a week of burgers, I thought, “wow, he’s gonna eat a lot of meat.” I was immediately smitten by the vegetarian burger, which looked and sounded delicious and piqued my interest immediately. His picture of this burger does it justice (of course), so check out his post to get your mouth watering.
His burger was topped with roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and basil on a good quality Kaiser roll.
In addition to serving these on freshly baked homemade sandwich rolls, I made a few minor alterations based on our preferences. Delicious!
You can find my slightly adapted recipe after the jump. No matter how you prepare it – whether it’s his way or mine – you should schedule a lunch or dinner soon.
Portobello Burgers with Mozzarella Cheese and Roasted Red Peppers
I removed the stems from two large portobello mushrooms but left the caps intact
One tablespoon of olive oil
A quarter cup of water
Red wine vinegar, one tablespoon
Pepper and salt
Grated mozzarella cheese, 1/3 cup or more, as you prefer
Basil leaves, ten whole leaves
Cut two whole roasted red bell peppers into strips (from a jar works fine)
Cut two Kaiser rolls in half or make your own
Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Put mushrooms, olive oil, water, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper in an oven-proof baking pan or rimmed baking sheet. Cover loosely with foil, stem side down—Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until tender.
Turn each cap over so that the ribs are facing up when the mushrooms are ready. Remove the top layer of foil, and remove any excess liquid. Add some grated cheese to each cap. Broil the caps until the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.
In the meantime, toast your rolls.
Place the toasted rolls on plates. Place 4-5 basil leaves on top of each roll. Add a mushroom cap on top of the basil. Layer the red bell pepper on the other side of the roll. Turn the burger over. Slice into halves and serve with chips and pickles.