Mushroom Swiss Burgers

When it comes to eating hamburgers, a mushroom Swiss burger is my second favorite. We don't fix burgers very often, but when we do, we do them up right. My all-time favorite has a light amount of Hellman's mayonnaise and mustard on both sides of the bun, a bed of lettuce, Vidalia onion rings, grilled burger with melted Provolone or Swiss cheese, two slices of homegrown tomatoes with a little salt and pepper, and topped off with dill pickle stackers.

Last night I was in the mood for a mushroom Swiss and a plate of oven baked fries. If you overlook the butter involved in preparing these, they are a quite healthy alternative. The ingredients below will serve four...and then some.

INGREDIENTS:

4 half pound burgers

8 slices Swiss cheese

8 oz. baby Portobella mushrooms

8 slices Texas toast

Salt, pepper to taste

Good on Anything (or Dale's) seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line the bottom of a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the rack with cooking spray. Prepare your oven baked fries on another sheet and set to the side.

We found this huge baking sheet (rack measures 13" x 18") at Academy Sports. It's one of my favorites to bake with.

Tear off a sheet of aluminum foil to cook the mushrooms in. Pour mushrooms in and top with tabs of butter. You can season with Good on Anything and a little salt and pepper if you'd like. I just stuck with the butter. Wrap the packet up and set on the front corner of the rack. 

Wrap and prepare a Vidalia onion just like you would if you were fixing a baked onion. Place it in the back corner of the rack.

Set the four burgers on the other side. Brush Good on Anything seasoning and salt and pepper burgers. Place this sheet on the top rack. Place the fries on the bottom rack.

Bake the burgers for 30 minutes. (Adjust time based on thickness of burger...these were pretty thick) Remove from the rack, place on a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Remove mushrooms and set to the side. Move the potatoes to the top rack; place wrapped onion on the baking sheet; bump up the oven temp to 450 degrees and bake until potatoes are golden and the onions are tender.

Heat a small skillet to medium heat. Butter one side of all the Texas toast. Put the bottom slice in the hot skillet. Lay one slice of cheese on the bottom, layer with mushrooms and onions. Place burger and another slice of cheese on top and finish with the other slice of Texas toast. Let sandwich cook until lightly browned on the bottom; flip to grill the other side (may take two spatulas to not lose your fillings!). A panini press would be the easiest way to grill these, but we just haven't made that change yet.