Home Kitchen Stuffed Mushrooms

It was December 29th and my Mom’s side of the family was getting together to celebrate the holidays, catch up, eat some good food and play the ever-so-fun “white elephant” game!

What’s the “white elephant” game you ask?

Well it’s this game where you get a decent gift, like lotto tickets, whiskey or a gift card worth 20 bucks, but sometimes it’s in the same bag as some horrific gift. In this game; there’s stealing, strategy, locking gifts. And if the gift you picked is something you wear, well you have to put it on in front of everyone. I think someone had to wear a gypsy costume once… not sure, but It can get downright cruel… A REGULAR HERE IT!

For many years it was an overly festive Christmas sweatshirt with built in turtleneck, which would come back in another gift the next year, and then the next. I am now the lucky owner of that swea-turtle-shirt and it is tucked away in my closet where it will stay… forever! There was also this “scary doll” made out of cotton batting, nylons and had a wig. She wore out dated children’s clothing and shoes, she was meant to stand with her face freakishly in the corner of whichever room you put her in. As if anyone would actually put her in a room at all! It was like she was in the naughty corner.

My sister’s dog tore her up, so she is no longer with us. RIP scary doll, a shame, truly.

So every year this get together happens and everyone brings a dish to pass… and this year I planned on bringing these stuffed mushrooms, a Giada De Laurentiis recipe. It was truly unfussy to put together and you should be able to find all the ingredients in your local grocery store. I only adjusted the recipe to fill these ginormous gourmet stuffing mushrooms… and that was pretty unfussy peasy too.

To Make These Italian Stuffed Mushrooms Gather:

• gourmet stuffing mushrooms, stemmed
• Italian dried bread crumbs
• Pecorino Romano cheese
• garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• chopped fresh mint leaves
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

Here are the simple ingredients. These are what drew me to this dish in the first place. I can’t stand a recipe that calls for fancy hard to find ingredients. Well, except for that flaked sea salt I traveled all over town for simply to sprinkle on those salted fudge brownies, but that was worth it!!

Lightly oil a sheet pan or spray with olive oil.

Remove the stems by pressing gently on the stem until it gives.

Line up all the mushroom caps on the oiled sheet pan.

Grate the pecorino romano cheese on the large holes box grater. Snag a piece or two for a snack. 😉

And measure out a cup, plus some more for sprinkling. Snag a few more pieces.

Grab the fresh parsley, and tear off about a handful.

Now only give it a good chop. You don’t want any huge pieces.

Repeat with fresh mint.

Chop it up as well.

Move on to the garlic. You only need two large or three small, but make sure they aren’t puny ones.

Worth keeping mincing garlic, it make me feel like Giada. That and when I say Pecorino Romano, I say it with my Italian accent… is that creepy? Sorry.

So you should have handsome mound of herbs and garlic.

Measure out 3 tablespoons of the fresh parsley.

And two tablespoons of the chopped mint.

Now add the bread crumbs, garlic and cheese into a bowl.

Add some fresh cracked black pepper, eye ball it.

And a good pinch of kosher salt.

Looking back I probably should have painted my nails.

Add in a tablespoon of the light olive oil.

Mix until everything is incorporated and slightly moist.

Begin filling the mushrooms with a tablespoon of the mixture until all the mushroom caps are filled equally.

Top with a little extra Pecorino.

I was tempted to simply try them raw, I mean seriously… look at them!

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and slightly golden.

Serve warm!

Since I was bringing these to an evening party and it is winter, I knew the natural light would be, well nil. So I baked one mushroom off in the oven to snap a photo before the sun was gone. Okay, so that and I wanted a taste test. 🙂

Enjoy! And if you give this Stuffed Mushroom recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!