Not-Your-Grandma’s Stuffed Mushrooms

This is some serious party food. Or not-party food – if you’re feeling scandalous, you could even make them for dinner. These mushrooms came from The Pioneer Woman Cooks and are no joking matter. I made them with jack cheese instead of brie (I know, I have an unhealthy addiction to jack cheese….but someone else was already making something with brie, and I wanted to make something different) and they were incredibly easy and incredibly good.

Another thing: In repentance for having fallen off the blog-wagon this past week or two, I am going try to be extra good in the coming weeks about posting and putting up pictures. We’ll see how this goes…

the cast of characters

ingredients
8 oz baby bella (crimini) mushrooms, wiped off and stems pulled out
2 oz (1/4 stick) butter, more if you can stand it
1 tbsp minced garlic
5 scallions
a handful of flat-leaf parsely (I used 1/2 bunch)
a block of cheese – take your pick. Pioneer Woman used brie; I used jack.

directions

clean and stem the shrooms, then make sure they fit in your baking dish. don't be afraid to crowd them in there.

melt half the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. add the mushrooms.

roughly chop the parsely, and discard the stems.

remove the mushrooms from the pan and put them in the baking dish. melt the other half of the butter, and add the scallions, parsley and garlic. try not to swoon - it will smell amazing.

while the green stuff cooks for a minute, cut the cheese into pieces to fit inside the mushroom caps.

dump all the garlicky-buttery-goodness over the mushrooms, and make sure all the mushrooms get some of the goodness.

bake for 15-20 minutes at 400. check on them around 10 to make sure nothing's burning. then plate and serve, to your friends' amazement.

Mid-Week Quickie: Mushroom Walnut Tofu Burgers

I think the noticeable lack of meat dishes on my blog bears mentioning. Over the last few years I’ve read all the books about local food, and small producers, and become more and more disturbed by the factory farm industry. Finally, this year, I committed to significantly reducing the amount of meat I eat. So while I’m not entirely vegetarian (as you can see from the various chicken recipes), I generally don’t cook meat at home. The good news is, meatless food does not have to be boring (or filled with granola, as the myth seems to be).

Today I was reading Bon Apetit while I got my oil changed, and they had a recipe for wild mushroom cakes. That got me thinking that I had a bunch of things in the fridge I wanted to use up, and that I had everything I needed to make my own version of a mushroom burger. It came out great – give it a try!

ingredients (makes 2 burgers)
4 oz cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, cleaned and sliced with the stems removed
1 egg, beaten
1/3 container extra firm tofu
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/8 c. parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 c breadcrumbs
1/4 c walnuts

instructions
1. toast the walnuts in a dry nonstick pan over medium high heat. just toss them around in the hot pan every minute or so, until they start to smell good. drop those babies in the food processor.
2. put a splash of olive oil in the pan, and when it shimmers, add the mushrooms. saute 2 minutes. add the garlic and stir, and cook 1 additional minute, stirring occasionally. add to food processor.
3. slice the tofu into 1/2 inch thick planks and add to the hot pan. saute for 1 minute, until they look drier – you don’t want to add excess water to the food processor. add them to the processor.
4. add the egg and breadcrumbs to the mixture in the food processor, and blend until chunky but combined. mold the mixture into two patties.don’t panic if it looks a little loose at this point – it will firm up in the pan.
5. heat another splash of olive oil over medium high heat. when it shimmers, add the patties. cook about 5 minutes on each side, until brown and crispy, and cooked through.

6. serve on a roll, or over a salad. I topped mine with spicy-sweet pepadew peppers, a little parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinagrette.