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Prep time
4 hours 15 minutes
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Cook time
20 minutes
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Serves
2
Author Notes
Any grilled portobello is good. Crispy edges! Juicy centers! So much umami! But these grilled portobellos are—how do I put this?—so good. Like, so good I made them multiple nights in a one week, then wanted to make them again. It’s all thanks to a few-ingredient marinade that doubles as a sauce for a squishy-bun sandwich. Just combine nutritional yeast, olive oil, and whatever vinegary brine is in a jar of capers, cornichons, dill pickles, you name it. (And if your jar of capers doesn’t have enough liquid for the recipe—you’ll need 3 tablespoons—just supplement with any vinegar you have around; something mild, like white wine or rice, is ideal here.) Half of this sauce hangs out with the raw mushrooms, intensifying their innate umami, before they hop on the grill. The rest gets combined with minced capers (or cornichons or whatever pickle-y thing you just used), plus minced chives, for a tartar-like sauce that just happens to be vegan. Unlike meat, mushrooms are hard to overcook—so don’t be afraid of char, and keep grilling until the edges start to crisp and crackle. That said, like meat, portobellos appreciate a post-cook rest, so all the flavorful juices can settle in. If you aren’t in the mood for a sandwich, that’s fine. Grill portobellos anyway. I like to thinly slice them, then slather with sauce, then put toward fluffy rice, cold noodles, vinaigrette-slicked lettuces, scrambled eggs. Really whatever is on the docket for dinner tonight. P.S. Yes, you can eat the stems! But if you'd like, feel free to remove them before marinating. —Emma Laperruque
Ingredients
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2
large portobello mushrooms
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6 tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil
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3 tablespoons
nutritional yeast
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3 tablespoons
caper (or cornichon) brine
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1/8 teaspoon
kosher salt
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3 tablespoons
minced chives
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2 teaspoons
drained capers, minced (or 4 cornichons, minced)
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2
buns, toasted if that’s your thing
Directions
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Use a spoon to scrape away the gills inside the mushrooms, then rinse and pat-dry.
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In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, nutritional yeast, caper brine, and salt. Stir with a fork until smooth and emulsified, resembling a loose Dijon mustard.
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Transfer 3 tablespoons of the nutritional yeast marinade to a small container. Mix in the chives and capers, then stick in the fridge. Brush the rest onto both sides of the mushrooms and stick in a container, bottom side facing up so the marinade can really sink in. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours.
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When you’re ready to eat, heat the grill to medium-high.
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Starting stem side facing up, grill the mushrooms for 10 to 12 minutes total, flipping halfway through, until tender throughout and crispy-edged. Spread the chive-caper sauce inside the buns, then sandwich the grilled portobellos inside.
Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.
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