shroomies

People eat fungus. And LIKE IT.

like most of the recipes i've posted thus far, stuffed mushrooms can be done in a myriad of ways. there are certain vegetables that i tend to always buy, so those are the ones that tend to end up in my mushrooms, but you can use almost anything.

i would say that balsamic vinegar, garlic, and parmesan cheese all work amazingly well together, and with the portabellos. if you're stuffing baby 'belas, you can use just those three ingredients and they'll be delicious.

first things first: when you're making stuffed mushrooms, make sure you buy mushrooms that will be easy to prep (like these):




if they're kind of flat when you buy them, they're going to get even flatter when you bake them. they will look like pancakes with stuff piled on top of them, and it's weird.

before stuffing and baking, i coat my mushrooms in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake them at about 350 for ten minutes. while they're baking, i saute whatever vegetables i'm using to stuff the shrooms.

for these i used:

onion
garlic
carrot
tomato
arugula
broccoli
jalepeno
couple dashes of hot sauce
balsamic vinegar
dijon mustard
salt
pepper
parsley
basil

saute all the vegetables other than the arugula and tomato until soft, then add them along with dijon, hot sauce, balsamic, and spices (you can use fresh or dried, to taste. fresh basil is the bomb, though).

fill each mushroom about 2/3 full with veggies, then top with parmesan and panko bread crumbs. don't fill them too full or the cheese will bubble over, and you'll have a mess. i drizzle the tops with olive oil, too, after i've added the cheese and panko. you could do that either before baking or before serving. bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. baking time can vary greatly depending on the size (depth) of your mushrooms, though, so watch out.



i served mine with roasted potatoes/sweet potatoes. simply slice up a few of each potato variety and sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and chili power. they'll need to bake a little longer than the mushrooms, so if you're using the same pan (as i did) you may want to let the potatoes bake for 15 minutes or so and then add the mushrooms to the pan and return them to the oven.