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Mushroom & cheese burritos are perfect for Meatless Mondays

Mushroom and Cheese Burritos are a delicious vegetarian dish hearty enough to satisfy even the most die-hard carnivore in your family: a burrito stuffed with portobello mushrooms, chiles and cheese. It's perfect for Meatless Mondays and - bonus! - all the ingredients are cooked together in a single rimmed sheet pan, which means cleanup is a snap.

Those steaklike portobellos are the ingredient around which this recipe is built. Prepping them is a two-step process. First, clean the caps by wiping them with a wet paper towel. Second, use a spoon (a grapefruit spoon is best, if you have one) to scrape out the gills on the underside of the caps. (You want to lose the gills because they become soggy when cooked and stain everything black.)

Watery as they are, mushrooms nonetheless soak up additional liquid like a sponge. In this case, the flavorings are lime juice, minced garlic and cumin, all of which are absorbed by the portobellos while the rest of the vegetables are being broiled.

First in the sheet pan is the poblano. You want to brown it lightly on all sides, which makes it easy to peel off its tough skin. (If you can't find a poblano, you can replace it with a ˆ½ small can of green chiles.) Then the onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes are broiled until slightly charred and tender. I chose cherry tomatoes because they may be small, but they boast the most tomato-y flavor when the big guys aren't yet in season. All of these supporting vegetables are quickly chopped in a food processor while the mushrooms take their turn in the oven. The last step is to stir together all the veggies and wrap them in the tortillas.

You're welcome to make the vegetable mixture a day or two ahead of time and keep it covered and chilled until you're ready to wrap it in the tortillas. I like to add sharp cheddar cheese to this recipe, but if your crowd is vegan, leave it out.

MUSHROOM AND CHEESE BURRITOS

Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings: 6

1ˆ½ pounds Portobello mushrooms (about 6 medium to large)

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for garnish

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 garlic cloves, 2 left unpeeled and 1 minced

Kosher salt

ˆ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus extra for oiling the poblano

1 large poblano (3ˆ½-4 ounces) or half a 4ˆ½-ounce can green chiles

ˆ¾ pound large cherry tomatoes

1 medium onion, sliced ˆ½-inch thick, and the slices separated

6 ounces coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese

Six 8-inch flour tortillas

1 firm ripe avocado, cut into cubes

ˆ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves

ˆ½ cup sour cream whisked together with 3 tablespoons water

Hot sauce

Place an oven rack in the top third of the oven and preheat the broiler. Clean the mushrooms; remove and discard the stems (or save them for another use such as vegetable stock); scrape out the gills with a spoon and discard them. Slice the caps in half and then slice them crosswise into ˆ½-inch strips.

In a large shallow bowl whisk together the lime juice, cumin, minced garlic and ˆ¼ teaspoon salt until the salt is dissolved; whisk in ˆ¼ cup of the vegetable oil. Add the mushrooms and stir well, making sure the marinade is well distributed. Set the mushrooms aside, stirring occasionally.

On a rimmed sheet lined with foil place the poblano, rubbed with oil, and broil it on the shelf in the top third of the oven, turning it often, until it is lightly browned on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer it to a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside while you broil the other vegetables.

On the sheet pan toss the tomatoes, onion slices and 2 unpeeled garlic cloves with the remaining tablespoon oil and a hefty pinch of salt. Spread the vegetables out in one layer. Set the pan on the shelf in the top third of the oven and broil the vegetables, turning them often, until the garlic is tender and the vegetables are browned around the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the tomatoes and onion to a food processor. Peel the garlic and add it to the processor.

Add the mushrooms to the sheet pan and spread them out in one layer. Broil them, turning several times, until they are golden and tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. While the mushrooms are cooking, peel and seed the poblano and coarsely chop it. Add it to the processor and pulse the vegetables in the processor until they are medium-chopped. When the mushrooms are cooked add the chopped vegetables to the mushrooms and stir well (Note: if you are using the canned chiles in place of the poblano, add them at this point. Add salt to taste. Reduce the oven to 350 F.

Arrange the tortillas on a cutting board, and working with one at a time sprinkle one-sixth of the cheese in a line from one edge of the tortilla to the other just below the center of the tortilla, spoon one-sixth of the filling on top of the cheese, spreading it evenly and roll up the tortilla tightly to enclose the filling. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, cheese and filling. Arrange the filled tortillas, seam side down on the rimmed sheet pan, lined with a fresh piece of foil and bake them on the middle shelf of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until heated through. Cut the tortillas in half crosswise and transfer 2 halves to each of 6 plates. Serve with the avocado, cilantro, sour cream, lime wedges, and hot sauce for garnish.

Nutrition information per serving: 483 calories; 290 calories from fat; 32 g fat (10 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 42 mg cholesterol; 382 mg sodium; 37 g carbohydrates; 6 g fiber; 8 g sugar; 15 g protein.

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