Flavour-packed burritos mean no need for meat
Mushroom and cheese burritos are a delicious vegetarian dish, hearty enough to satisfy even the most diehard carnivore in your family — a burrito stuffed with portobello mushrooms, chilis and cheese.
It’s perfect for Meatless Mondays and all the ingredients are cooked together in a single-rimmed sheet pan, which means cleaning up is easy.
Those steak-like portobellos are the ingredient around which this recipe is built. Preparing them is a two-step process. First, clean the caps by wiping them with a wet paper towel. Second, use a spoon (a grapefruit spoon is best, if you have one) to scrape out the gills on the underside of the caps. (You want to lose the gills because they become soggy when cooked and stain everything black.)
Watery as they are, mushrooms nonetheless soak up additional liquid like a sponge. In this case, the flavourings are lime juice, minced garlic and cumin, all of which are absorbed by the portobellos while the rest of the vegetables are being broiled.
First in the sheet pan is the poblano. You want to brown it lightly on all sides, which makes it easy to peel off its tough skin. (If you can’t find a poblano, you can replace it with half a small can of green chilis.) Then the onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes are broiled until slightly charred and tender. I chose cherry tomatoes because they may be small, but they boast the most flavour when the big guys aren’t yet in season. All of these supporting vegetables are quickly chopped in a food processor while the mushrooms take their turn in the oven. The last step is to stir together all the veggies and wrap them in the tortillas.
You’re welcome to make the vegetable mixture a day or two ahead of time and keep it covered and chilled until you’re ready to wrap it in the tortillas. I like to add sharp cheddar cheese to this recipe, but if your crowd is vegan, leave it out.
Mushroom and Cheese Burritos
Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes Servings: Six 1 1/2 pounds Portobello mushrooms (about 6 medium to large) 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for garnish 2 tsp ground cumin 3 garlic cloves, 2 left unpeeled and 1 minced • Kosher salt 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for oiling the poblano 1 large poblano (3 1/2 to 4 oz) or half a 4 1/2-oz can green chilis 3/4 pound large cherry tomatoes 1 medium onion, sliced 1/2-inch thick, and the slices separated 6 oz coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese Six 8-inch flour tortillas 1 firm ripe avocado, cut into cubes 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves 1/2 cup sour cream whisked together with 3 Tbsp water • Hot sauce
Place an oven rack in the top third of the oven and preheat the broiler. Clean the mushrooms; remove and discard the stems (or save them for another use, such as vegetable stock). Scrape out the gills with a spoon and discard them. Slice the caps in half and then slice them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips.
In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the lime juice, cumin, minced garlic and 1/4 tsp salt until the salt is dissolved. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil. Add the mushrooms and stir well, making sure the marinade is well distributed. Set the mushrooms aside, stirring occasionally.
On a rimmed sheet lined with foil, place the poblano, rubbed with oil, and broil it on the shelf in the top third of the oven, turning it often, until it is lightly browned on all sides, six to eight minutes.
Transfer it to a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside while you broil the other vegetables.
On the sheet pan, toss the tomatoes, onion slices and two unpeeled garlic cloves with the remaining tablespoon of oil and a hefty pinch of salt.
Spread the vegetables out in one layer. Set the pan on the shelf in the top third of the oven and broil the vegetables, turning them often, until the garlic is tender and the vegetables are browned around the edges, about eight to 10 minutes.
Transfer the tomatoes and onion to a food processor. Peel the garlic and add it to the processor.
Add the mushrooms to the sheet pan and spread them out in one layer. Broil them, turning several times, until they are golden and tender, about eight to 10 minutes.
While the mushrooms are cooking, peel and seed the poblano and coarsely chop it. Add it to the processor and pulse the vegetables in the processor until they are medium-chopped.
When the mushrooms are cooked, add the chopped vegetables to the mushrooms and stir well. If you are using the canned chilis in place of the poblano, add them at this point. Add salt to taste. Reduce the oven to 350 F.
Arrange the tortillas on a cutting board, and working with one at a time sprinkle one-sixth of the cheese in a line from one edge of the tortilla to the other just below the centre of the tortilla. Spoon one-sixth of the filling on top of the cheese, spreading it evenly, and roll up the tortilla tightly to enclose the filling.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas, cheese and filling. Arrange the filled tortillas, seam-side down, on the rimmed sheet pan lined with a fresh piece of foil and bake them on the middle shelf of the oven for eight to 10 minutes or until heated through.
Cut the tortillas in half crosswise and transfer two halves to each of six plates.
Serve with the avocado, cilantro, sour cream, lime wedges and hot sauce for garnish.