It’s Vegetarian Week this week! Have you been participating in their challenge to go every day meat free? Our expert contributor Meg Davies has come up with a great recipe for meat free burgers that should help you keep to the challenge, especially as this recipe would also work fantastically well on the BBQ.
Portobello Mushroom Burgers with Halloumi and Roasted Peppers
I tried a burger similar to this in a restaurant in Cornwall and couldn’t wait to recreate it when I got home. The mushroom really does substitute for a traditional beef patty so you don’t even miss the meat.
Ingredients
- 2 portobello mushrooms
- 1 pepper (I used red because it’s the sweetest)
- 2 slices of halloumi
- 1 large onion, sliced into half rings
- 1 tsp light brown sugar
- 1 garlic clove, diced
- 75g butter
- burger buns
- pinch of seasalt
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
Method
1. Start out by preheating the oven to as 220°C/gas mark 7. Heat a medium frying pan on a low heat and add the oil and onions. You want to cook them long and slow so the natural sweetness comes out. Once they start to go a little bit more golden add in the brown sugar to help this along. Keep stirring occasionally and make sure the onions don’t stick and burn. If they start to stick then add in another tablespoon of oil. This will take about 30 minutes.
2. Cut the pepper into half and lay cut side down on a oven tray and place in the oven for about 25 minutes. You want the skins to become blackened so they can come off more easily. When you take them out, take the peppers and lay them on a chopping board and cover with a bowl. This lets the peppers steam so that the skins will simply slip off. Leave them to steam for about 10 minutes and then pull the skins off and slice into pieces. Turn the oven down to 180°C/gas mark 5.
3. Place the mushrooms on a oven tray. Mix the garlic and butter together and place a blob over the mushrooms. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes or until tender. Slice the buns in half and toast the cut side of the buns. Spread the mayonnaise over the toasted sides.
4. While you are toasting the buns, use a grill pan to fry the halloumi for about 2 minutes each side. I managed to get a criss cross pattern on mine by turning the slices round half way through cooking. If you don’t want to buy a whole block of halloumi Tesco now sells burger slices of halloumi which are round and fit neatly under a bun. Halloumi doesn’t melt and will keep its shape.
5. Layer up the buns with mushroom, halloumi, onions and peppers.
About Our Expert Contributor
Meg Davies has been an enthusiastic home baker from a very young age. Now at university in Birmingham, she has been studying Food & Consumer Management for two years. She loves to come up with fun & interesting recipes that are easy for everyone to make at home and is in the process of making her own website charting her baking adventures.