Samuel’s Roasted Mushroom Base

This is the mushroom base that Scott Samuel, a chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, Calif., uses in conjunction with beef in his burgers. I have cut the amount of olive oil to ¼ cup from ½. Some of America’s biggest food service companies are committed to increasing vegetable consumption, but they don’t want to lose their meat-loving customers, so they are figuring out ways to create dishes with less meat that are still appealing. You may face this challenge in your own family; you want everybody to cut down on meat consumption, but they love their burgers. Mr. Samuel has developed a savory roasted mushroom base that he mixes with hamburger meat for a delicious burger. It looked, smelled, acted and tasted like a burger (well, a very vegetal burger), and it had the added quality of being very moist. Everybody gave it high marks in a taste test, and I made a mental note to make the base at home and use it in burgers, meatballs and more.