Not So Vegetarian Portabella Ham Burger

I come from a long line of frugal people. Grandma Jessie unfolded paper napkins to cut them in half and reused paper plates. Grandpa Nachbor bought a foam cooler sometime during the Johnson administration, broke the lid sometime during the Nixon administration, then replaced it with a lid he hand-crafted out of wood scraps. The cooler (that he probably paid 99 cents for) remained in use until his demise more than 20 years later. Then there was the time my mother sent my dad and brother to the store for a can of soup and they came home with some version of name-brand soup. She nearly had an aneurism because they had purchased “that expensive soup!” Land sakes … what are we? Rockafellers?

As such, it is in my genes to be a bargain hunter. I am always looking for a deal, and I delight in discovering the produce guy marking down items while I shop. Hence the two pounds of mushrooms I recently purchased. Sounds like a lot, I know, but they were 99 cents per pound! How could one walk away from such a deal? So I perused Tastefully Simple’s website and found Sherry Nelson’s recipe for “Not So Vegetarian Portabella Ham Burgers.” It did not matter to me that my mushrooms weren’t portabellas … or that I had already prepared my Dried Tomato & Garlic Pesto … cooking is all about adapting to what you have.

So check out the recipe below. It was very adaptable, not to mention fantastic! Get your cheap on and give it a go!

j*a*N*e

Not So Vegetarian Portabella Ham Burger

Submitted by Sherry Nelson (CA) – with my notes!

Ingredients

• 1 large portabella mushroom, cleaned and stems removed (or whatever mushrooms you have)
• 1 tsp. chopped shallots (I omitted)
• 1 tsp. Dried Tomato & Garlic Pesto Mix (I used prepared – one batch, using the recipe on the jar)
• Pinch of salt (I used Seasoned Salt)
• 1 tsp. Balsamic & Basil Dipping Oil (this went into the bottom of my skillet)
• 1 slice of ham, chopped
• 1 slice cheese

Directions

(Note: See testing notes for how I prepared this dish.)

Place mushroom, gill side up, on broiler pan. Sprinkle in the next 3 ingredients. Drizzle with oil. Broil until edges are soft; 3-5 minutes. Flip mushroom over. Broil 2-4 additional minutes. Flip back so gill side is up. Add ham and cheese. Broil 45-60 seconds or until cheese is melted. Serve on a bun with condiments of choice. Makes 1 serving.

Not So Vegetarian Portabella Ham Burger

Testing Notes:

• My bargain mushrooms were large “stuffing” mushrooms – I suppose a kind of giant button mushroom, so I decided to slice and sauté them vs. broiling them.
• I had some onions and peppers to use up, so I began by chopping those and sautéing them.
• While the onions and peppers were cooking, I washed and sliced the mushrooms, then added them to my non-stick pan with 1 batch of prepared pesto, Seasoned Salt and pepper.
• While the mushrooms were cooking, I toasted three split English muffins (on sale 2 for 1!), then lightly buttered them.
• Once the ‘shrooms were nicely cooked, I placed the muffins on the pan from my toaster oven, then topped them with the mushroom mixture plus a few sliced grape tomatoes that I needed to use up.
• On top of that, I put a small slice of deli ham plus some cheese. We were using up odds and ends, so one sandwich had pepper Jack, two had Cheddar, and two had fresh mozzarella. Then I broiled the open-faced sammies. I must say that all of these cheeses worked very well.
• We served the sandwiches with a side of fried potatoes, asparagus, onion and fresh rosemary.
• My family ranked these very highly … we are looking forward to making them again!

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