Grilled Portobello Burger with Onion Jam

  

    
New ideas for recipes come in many different forms these days.  In addition to cookbooks, we have cooking magazines and newsletters.  We've gone digital with cooking websites and blogs.  Now add to that Twitter where in addition to the latest celebrity news we can get a recipe from our favorite celebrity chef.  One the one hand, it is another example of our abbreviated and dehumanizing modern existence when the recipe comes to us as: Rst 1#tomtllos,1 on,3 grlc,3 serranos;puree;sear n oil 2 thkn;simr w 2c broth,.5c crema.Oil,micrwv 12 torts,roll w rstd veg,sauce, chs, bake (Roasted Vegetables with a Creamy Tomatillo Sauce, Rick Bayless).  On the other hand, it is nice to get just a single idea that can pique our curiosity and fit into our busy modern lives.  The recipe below came from the Food Network's Twitter with the admonition that it was so good it made them cry (and not from the onions)!  By this time of summer, I'm tapped out of burger recipes and looking for something different.  I've gone through fish recipes too, so now a portobello mushroom recipe is timely.  Also, using red onions in the summer months and knowing that caramelizing onions brings out their sweetness plays on the wine sauce/jam this recipe suggests.  Food Network suggested a yogurt/mayo spread for the bun.  I omitted that because the onions in wine sauce would be more than enough to help the burger go down.  Besides, why add unnecessary fat?  I paired this with green beans in pesto (ok how about why eat fat as mayo when you can have it as pesto?!), a preparation I use sometimes with steak and is a decadent way to get your veggies.  Try this for a quick and different summertime meal.  Serves 2.

    

Ingredients:

4 tbsp oil

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp dried thyme

salt/pepper

1/2 cup red wine

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove crushed

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 portobello mushrooms, stemmed

2 hamburger buns

    

Directions:

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium pan over medium-low heat.  Add the onions, 1/4 tsp thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and cook to soften the onions but not brown, stirring occasionally, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Add the red wine and simmer until the wine is reduced to about 2 tbsp total.  Add the honey and vinegar and continue to simmer gently until the onion mixture thickens to a jam-like consistency.  Meanwhile, preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat.  Brown the hamburger buns if desired.  Whisk together the remaining olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, 1/4 tsp of dried thyme, salt and pepper.  Coat the mushroom caps on both sides with the olive oil mixture.  Grill the mushrooms, turning as needed about 3 minutes per side.  Place on buns with onion jam mixture spooned on top.  Serve.