My mother was an amazing cook. Kids in the neighborhood made excuses to end up at my house for dinner. And while I’d like to think it was to play with me and my kick-ass hot wheel collection, if I’m being honest it’s what was on the stove. Mom made seriously good grub.

But eventually she had to go to work, so my brother and I had to cook here and there. I like my time in the kitchen, but I’m not fancy and I usually keep it simple.

From time to time I team up with some dads on this interweb thing. This month we’re working with #Lifeofdad on something called #Shroomtember, along with The Mushroom Council.  I’ve always liked mushrooms, so when they asked if I wanted to be involved, I jumped in.

This is what I came up with to enter their first contest, which is a quick dinner idea using mushrooms. My kids like portobellos and I love burgers. It occurred to me to do an Italian sort of burger, grilling up a portobello mushroom, adding a a chewy hunk of crispy parmesan cheese on it and topped with a whole lot of bruschetta on a grilled roll. It sounds hard to do, it’s not!

Toss the portobellos in a bowl with some, salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil, you can crush it yourself or use the bottled kind.

Start a pan and throw some butter in it, medium heat.  When the butter starts to bubble, toss on some mozzarella and parmesan cheese. You’ll just let it go for a few minutes.

Chop up some roma tomatoes, some fresh garlic and basil, drizzle olive oil over it, salt and pepper, and put aside. Done.

When your cheese has crisped, put it aside. Done.

In the same pan where you cooked the cheese, put some olive oil or butter on your rolls and set them to grill for about four minutes. You can do that on the grill, also. Done.

The Portobello goes on your grill now, medium heat.  Don’t let it catch on fire, remember it has oil on it. It needs maybe four or five minutes. You can also use a panini maker or any sort of double sided grill. Done.

When I build it, I put chopped lettuce on the bottom, then the portobello, then the cheese, topped by the bruschetta and a little mayo. Done.

It really was amazing!

Aside from my kids and burgers, my favorite thing in the world is french fries. I like them plain, steak, skinny, fat, with garlic, with cheese and chili, with chili or cheese. I can’t even count the ways I like them there are so many. So I did some baked fries that I tossed with a little garlic and parsley, they look great and are so tasty. I put some salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of cayenne pepper in there… it doesn’t make them hot, it just adds depth to the flavor.

See, it is simple!

Ingredients

The Burger

Portobellos (as many as you need)

Cheese (mostly parmesan, a bit of mozzarella)

Lettuce (I used chopped romaine)

Butter (to cook the cheese and grill the bread) for the bread, olive oil can be substituted

Mayo

Bruschetta

Roma Tomatoes (figure one per burger)

Chopped Garlic

Chopped Fresh Basil

Fries

Potatoes (one per person, unless you love fries then do two)

Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Parsley (season to taste)