Ah, the dog days of summer! It happens every year sometime between the 4th of July and Labor Day – seemingly endless stretches of days with 90′ temperatures. With the hot days come many trips to the pool, the ever present aroma of sun screen in the air, and lazy cookouts in the warm twilight hours. When I think of grilling, my mind instantly drifts to these images – and no daydream of summer cookouts would be complete without some sizzling burgers on the griddle.

Hayley and I came up with this healthy take on the classic hamburger a few weeks ago during one of our relaxing beach weekends. The idea was to take the bun fully out of the equation, and substitute it with a hearty portabello mushroom cap (a BIG one). We also decided to use lean ground turkey for the burgers, though one could have also used a lean beef mix or even a grilled chicken breast. As we often say, let your taste buds be your guide. The turkey burgers are finished off with some familiar faces: big pieces of crisp lettuce, a hearty tomato slice, and a thick grilled slice of onion. No top “bun” is needed here – your mouth will be hard pressed to fit around this stack of goodness as it is.

We also made some sweet potato fries to go with the meal (what is a burger without fries, anyway?) We got a bag of fresh, cut sweet potato spears from Trader Joe’s, seasoned them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and baked them in the oven. It was very simple!

We were also fortunate to have some fresh, homemade pickles with our meal. Hayley’s dad has pickled cucumbers for a few years now, and his homemade pickles this year were outstanding! It was a lucky coincidence that he called us to pick up a jar the evening of making these burgers. They were the perfect accompaniment to the meal! So here is our take on the quintessential summer favorite: Open faced turkey burgers on a portabello bun.

Ingredients:

• 1lb lean ground turkey (makes 3-4 burgers)
• 1 large portabello mushroom cap per burger desired
• 1 large tomato, sliced thick
• 1 onion, sliced thick
• Lettuce

  

Process:

1. Preheat grill on high
2. Wash and cut up vegetables (slice tomato and onion to about 1/4 inch)
3. Form turkey into approximately fist-sized patties. Feel free to mix in chopped onions, salt and pepper to your taste. Montreal steak seasoning is also tasty on burgers.
4. Grill turkey burgers, onion and portabello caps on high. The portabello caps only require about 2-3 minutes a side, any longer and they’ll end up a soggy mess. Note how far along the mushroom caps are in comparison to everything else:

   

5. Serve with the Portabello mushroom as the base bun, and pile on the burger, lettuce, tomato and onion.
6. Enjoy!