Recipe: Chipotle Portobello Mushroom Burritos

by John Ryan

Chipotle Portabella
(Portobello Mushroom) Burritos

Serves 2

This is quick-especially if you have some chipotle purée in the fridge. These burritos are surprisingly filling. We generally buy 3 portabellas for the 2 of us. When we first started making these, we had the best intentions of rounding out the meal with beans and rice or a salad of some kind. But we quickly found out that 2 or 3 of these burritos apiece were plenty.

You need...
15 minutes
Large skillet
Toaster oven or oven to preheat tortillas

3 portabella mushrooms, 4-6 inch diameter.
6 flour tortillas
Monterey Jack cheese, buy a brick, but you'll only use 4 ounces or so
1 to 2 teaspoons chipotle purée (see Prep)
Butter

Prep:
Make the chipotle purée. Open a 7-ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. purée in a blender, food processor, or by mincing the peppers by hand and mixing them back into the sauce. Then freeze half the purée and refrigerate the other half. It lasts for months in the refrigerator. Be careful, the purée is extremely hot.

1. Remove the portabella stems. Cut off the knob of dirt on the stem. Brush dirt from the gills wash the tops under running water. Roughly chop mushroom caps and stems.

2. Sauté the mushrooms in a liberal amount of butter over medium high heat. Lightly salt the mushrooms.

3. Meanwhile have your spouse: grate a cup or so of Monterey Jack cheese...and wrap 6 flour tortillas in aluminum foil and heat at 350 degrees F in a toaster oven.

4. At first, the mushrooms usually give up a lot of liquid. When this happens, add a half teaspoon of chipotle purée and stir. Taste and add chipotle purée to taste. Let most of the mushroom liquid evaporate.

5. Put a couple spoonfuls of mushrooms along the center of a warm flour tortilla. Sprinkle some cheese over the mushrooms and wrap. Enjoy with a cold beer.