Pork and Portobello Burgers
03I’m getting a little panicky about moving. Will my kids be okay at their new daycare and school? Will my 15-20 minute walk to work from the train station be absolutely terrible in the winter? Will it suck not being able to just take a quick walk down the street to get dinner, spices, a coffee, or the integral part of dinner I forgot to put on the grocery list?
What I’m the most panicky about is getting home even later than we do now, and still somehow managing to get dinner on the table, see my kids, and get them in bed at a reasonable hour. And then when we get up in the morning (probably even earlier) somehow find a way to get them both ready and out the door on time. This is not an easy task, because it’s a scientific fact that 3-4 year olds take at least 17 minutes per article of clothing they need to put on.
I see a lot of burgers in our future. Good thing they are well-loved by our family and endlessly adaptable.
What I loved about these burgers in particular is that there’s a bite of portobello in every bite, since you shape the patty inside the mushroom. No random sauteed mushrooms falling out of the burger and making a mess. No bites at the end that are basically bun with a tiny bit of meat and no other toppings. The rosemary in these was also great. My supremely weirdo kid was sitting there eating fresh rosemary as I was prepping these. Seriously, that’s weird, right? I sometimes wonder if he has a tapeworm or something.
At any rate, mine did take a little longer to cook than the recipe stated, at least on the second side. I ended up flipping them back over to cook an extra couple of minutes, so next time I’ll just increase the cooking time on the first side before flipping (since you are cooking through the portobello on the second side, it takes a little longer for the pork to cook through). I also was just a little short on ground pork, and I made the difference up with ground chicken.
Pork and Portobello Burgers
Barely adapted from The New York Times
1 lb. ground pork
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
4 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
olive oil
4 hamburger buns, toasted
Toppings of your choice (lettuce, tomato, onion & avocado for us)
Prepare a grill; the heat should be medium-high and the rack about 4 inches from the heat. Alternatively, if cooking indoors, heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high, or preheat the broiler.
Lightly mix together the pork, garlic, rosemary, salt (about 3/4 tsp.) and pepper to taste.
Using a spoon, lightly scrape away the gills of the mushrooms and hollow them slightly. Brush the mushrooms inside and out with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Press 1/4 of the meat mixture into each of the hollow sides of the mushrooms. The meat should spread all the way across the width of the mushrooms.
If cooking indoors, add a little oil to the cast iron skillet or place the burgers onto a broiler-safe pan. Grill, fry, or broil the burgers, meat side down, until the pork is well browned, about 6-8 minutes. Flip and cook until the top side of the mushrooms are browned and the mushrooms are tender, another 6 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the mean should read a minimum of 145 degrees.
Serve the burgers on toasted buns with your desired toppings.
The move is going to be great. And you will make it work, because you are awesome.
I love pork burgers almost as much as we are going to miss you as neighbors. (My hometown has “Hog Day”. Just sayin’.)
You will be fine!! It’s the kind of thing where it will be fine because it has to be fine. 🙂 Also this trick of cooking the patty inside the mushroom is pretty cool.