Last weekend was one of those bright summer days when it was not too hot but very very spring like – like 100 different colours on trees and clear blue skies. I love such evenings. These kind of days would be when back in the UK we would get together for a barbeque with friends. We’d get our portable aluminium BBQ boxes and our British baps and beers in the backyard. I’d kill to go back to those uni days.
Anyhow since I am not in uni anymore – I decide to extend this amazing experience to the hubs. Only we’re fancier now ( 😉 ) and can afford to spend on some fine wine so we spent all Saturday having wine and eating these out-of-the-world balsamic mushroom and feta sliders. These little sliders which by the way can totally be improvised into anything you want are the easiest, possibly gourmet dish you can whip up in 20 min. The key ingredients here are mushrooms, feta, onions and some greens. Now I wouldn’t add lettuce to this but greens such as baby spinach or arugula work brilliantly in this burger. My original recipe is with portabella mushrooms but I couldn’t find nice fresh portabellas so I made do with some button mushrooms.
Balsamic Mushroom & Feta Sliders
Serves 2|Â Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients:Â
Mushrooms – 4 large portabella or 200 gm button mushrooms
Red onion – 1 large, chopped lengthwise
Balsamic Vinegar – 1/2 cup
Feta – 4 tbsp
Garlic  –  2 cloves, finey chopped
Arugula or baby spinach – 1 cup
Demerara sugar – 2 tbsp
Olive Oil – 4-5 tbsps
Slider buns  –  6
Salt & Black pepper – to season (You won’t likely need any salt because you have super salty feta and balsamic)
PS: Totally ok if you want to skip the real feta and go for mock or tofu feta. Just make sure the saltiness matches that of original feta 🙂
Directions:
In a skillet, get some olive oil heating and add the chopped garlic to it. Next add the chopped button mushrooms or your whole portobello mushrooms. Make super sure you do not crowd the pan with the mushrooms – they will get a nice golden colour when you give them some space in the pan. Now add the balsamic vinegar and let this cook for about 5 min.
Set the button mushrooms off the flame in a bowl – in the same pan, add some more olive oil and toss in the chopped onions. Once they get transparent, add the brown sugar and let the mix cook till it gets a shiny golden colour. After you see the onions caramelized, set the aside.
Heat the buns and assemble. On the base of the bun, plan the mushrooms, then the caramelized onions followed by the feta and then topped by the arugula or spinach. You can also apply some dijon mustard to the buns for some extra punch.
Enjoy these with some wine, light beer or just simple iced tea.
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