Stuffed mushrooms make a great addition to any cocktail party, wedding reception, or other special occasion. Mushrooms have long been considered a higher end ingredient, and this particular way of serving is seen as upper crust. The proper preparation of this versatile food stuff can help bring out its rich taste and meaty texture. While stuffed mushrooms are generally seen as difficult to prepare, but here is one easy recipe. Follow the advice outlined bellow to impress your friends and family at your next get together.
When served as an appetizer or hor devours, plan for each guest to eat, on average, about 5 stuffed mushrooms. This recipe prepares 10 mushroom, and serves 2. Multiply the ingredients to serve more guests.
You will need:
- Olive oil
- 1/4 a stick of butter
- Salt and pepper
- 1 thick slice of your choice of bread (rye makes for a great, full flavored stuffing).
- 2 tablespoons of your choice of grated cheese (Parmesan works perfectly well).
- 10 large plain white mushrooms.
While you prepare the mushrooms, let your oven preheat to 400 degrees.
Tear your bread into small pieces. One easy way to do this is to cut it into 1/2 inch cubes, and mince the cubes with a chopping knife. The goal here is to avoid compressing the bread as much as possible. If you have a food processor, you can pulse the cubes, using the serrated attachment, instead of mincing. Put the crumbs in a good sized mixing bowl, and toss them with a table spoon of oil, a pinch of salt, and pepper to taste. The resulting product should be a batch of well saturated bread crumbs.
Put this mix into a baking pan and leave it in the (now preheated) oven for roughly 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, you can prepare the mushrooms. Pull the stems off the mushrooms. This is best done by firmly grasping the mushroom cap, and slowly bending the stem to a 90 degree angle. We don’t need to worry about damaging or bruising the stems, it’s the mushroom cap we want intact. When all the stems are removed, finely chop them. These are a major ingredient in the stuffing.
Now, it’s time to precook the mushroom caps. Use a large, lightly oiled, cookie sheet for this. Place the caps face up (so the base of the cap on the cookie sheet), and leave it in the oven for 9 to 10 minutes, or until the mushroom’s juices start to leak.
Now, melt the butter in a frying pan. In the pan, saute the diced stems until they are fully cooked. Here you can get creative. Feel free to add additional herbs, chopped garlic or onion, celery, or even precooked (and chopped) bacon. If the stuffing feels too dry, don’t be afraid to add more melted butter. Mix this in with the now cooled break crumb mixture, and add the grated cheese.
Now, carefully flip the mushrooms over, and evenly divide the stuffing among them. I recommend using your hands for this, a spoon doesn’t let you mold the stuffing into the stem cavities. Bake the mushrooms until the stuffing is golden brown, or the mushroom caps start to singe. This usually takes about 15-18 minutes.
Congratulations, you’ve finished one of modern dinning most delicious and beloved appetizers!
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