Mushroom Smash Burgers

Add caramelized onions. and cut a 1 cm slice of ultra-firm tofu off a block of the stuff, gently squeezed out what little water it contained (being careful not to break the slab). I did the portobello, then removed it and applied the onion/oil mix (adding garlic powder, paprika, and a little cayenne) and fried the tofu slab golden on both sides. Assembled the burger with the tofu under the shroom.

LOVED these! My husband often has texture issues with cooked mushrooms, so I did burgers with one regular smashburger patty topped with one of the mushroom patties, glued together with cheese in the middle. Hands down the absolute best mushroom swiss burger I've ever had, without any of the usual slipping and sliding of smaller mushroom pieces. Second time around, I also cooked whole slices of onion (like how you can get "whole grilled onion" from In-N-Out) and put those between the mushroom and patty with a second slice of cheese (burger, cheese, onion, cheese, mushroom) and it was even better. Tip: if you do a (shallow!) crosshatch across the tops of the portobellos instead of just an X, you can use a Dutch oven as the weight for the first 6-8 minutes and then let all the excess moisture evaporate during the final (unweighted) 2-4 minutes.

This was a delicious burger. Instead of paprika, I used sumac...love its flavor, and I used one mushroom per burger. Costco's square ciabatta buns lightly toasted held the arugula, sautéed onions, tomatoes, pickles, cheese & condiments very well. I think a brioche or burger bun would have been too fragile. The cooking method was great...foil on the smaller cast iron was a great suggestion in comments. What a great way to have a way better-than-beef burger for a very healthy choice!!