Stuffed Mushrooms

For the past week I have been craving stuffed mushrooms.  I had a recipe idea in my head, and all I needed were the right ingredients.  A trip to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods stocked me up and I am ready to make lots of new goodies.

Of course, large mushrooms are the ideal way to make stuffed mushrooms, but they only had small organic ones, so I figured they would be both cute and delicious. Here is the recipe:

Pre heat oven to 350.  Start with the filling; chop 1/2 medium size onion in a small dice. Then do the same with 1 stalk celery and 1/4 of a granny smith apple.  Get those cooking in a tiny bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt over medium heat. Begin the mushrooms.

Start with 1lb of button or brown mushrooms. Wipe them all of the mushrooms down with a damp paper towel. Then, using a metal 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon, circle the stem removing it with ease.  Put all stems aside to go into the filling. Once all stems are aside, coarsely chopped them and added them to the pan onion with a pinch of sea salt and some thyme.  Break up one link of Apple Sage Field Roast Sausage.  Move the celery, onion and mushrooms to one 1/2 of pan. Add 1 drizzle of olive oil and then put the sausage in the pan.  Let cook 3 minutes, them mix it all together.

Make a marinade of 1 tbsp. olive oil, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon vegetable broth in a large bowl. Whisk until emulsified. Add salt and pepper.  It may seem like too little at the bottom of the bowl, but you only want to grease them, not marinate them. Gently place all caps into bowl, toss until all are coated.  Spread them all cap up onto a foil lined and greased baking sheet.

Back to the stuffing.  Add 1/2 stock to the pan and 1/3 cup stuffing mix.  Mix together in pan, add more stock if is not wet enough. Turn off heat and let rest a few minutes.

Take a spoon and fill caps with stuffing.  Pop in oven about 20-30 minutes depending on size of mushrooms.  Check on them after 20, you will know when they are done!

I served these with mixed veggies and brown rice pasta in a béchamel sauce that was lightly seasoned, it was a little comfort food on the side.  I love the brown rice pasta in a white sauce because the pasta gets so tender when cooked and it makes the whole dish extra creamy.