Stuffed Mushrooms

Ever since Much Ado About Nothing rehearsals have started, I haven't had any time to cook. After student teaching, I have Weight Training, piano lessons, or the student teaching seminar. Then I go straight to rehearsal. If I have time to stop by home, it's usually only enough to put together a quick dinner and then out the door I go. So this week, I didn't cook anything new, but here is a stuffed mushrooms recipe I've been meaning to share.

I always saw stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer food and not as a part of dinner or lunch, so I didn't see a need to make them any time soon. Plus, if I were to make 24 of them, who would eat it all? I don't need any more temptation in the house. But when I bought an excess amount of mushrooms last month, I decided to make stuffed mushrooms before they went bad. I made only 10 or so, but the proportions from the recipe should be right. I did make some adjustments as I was going along because I figured this was one of those recipes where nothing can go terribly wrong. I replaced half of the cream cheese with blue cheese as I had some of that left over and wanted to get rid of it. Then I decided to leave out the Parmesan cheese. I also replaced some of the breadcrumbs with pecans since I thought they would add a nice crunch. These were pretty easy to make even for 2 servings, so I should make stuffed mushrooms more often! Next time, I would try this with Parmesan and cream cheese, but a little less. I thought the stuffing was a bit too thick from the cream cheese.



Stuffed Mushrooms
From Baked Bree

- 24 mushrooms
- 2 shallots
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (try replacing half with pecan for a nice crunch)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley chopped

1. Wipe the mushrooms off with a damp paper towel. Remove the stems and save them. Put the mushroom stems, shallots, and garlic in the food processor.
Pulse until it is finely chopped.
2. Saute the mushroom and shallot mixture in a large saute pan over medium high heat with 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook until the shallots are transparent and the mushroom begin to caramelize, about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Add the white wine and let the wine cook out. Set aside and let cool slightly.
4. In a bowl, add the cream cheese, parsley (save a bit for garnish), and thyme.
Add the mushroom mixture to the cream cheese and mix until combined. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Put the mushroom caps on a baking sheet lined with tin foil. Fill the mushroom with the filling and sprinkle the top with the breadcrumbs.
Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 20 minutes. When the mushrooms are done, they will start to leak water and be hot all the way through.