Stuffed mushrooms with mushrooms, and stuff

Your family and guests will be clamoring for these. Maybe you’ll need two batches.

This post isn’t nearly as cool as Philip’s live chickens clucking around, but good nonetheless. Besides, who wants to eat chickens when they’re alive?

Many stuffed mushroom recipes call for similar ingredients: stuffed mushrooms with bacon, stuffed mushrooms with blue cheese, stuffed mushrooms with panko crumbs, and, of course, stuffed mushrooms with mushrooms. Other ingredients include sausage, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, etc. Needless to say there are many different types of stuffed mushrooms.

But here are some ‘shroomies that are a little different—and so good that your family or guests will be clamoring for them.

A closer look at these gems.

What you need:

• 10 large mushrooms (2.5” or larger) stems removed and reserved
• Olive or vegetable oil
• 1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped or sliced
• 2 scallions, chopped
• bacon (2-4 slices) sliced into pieces, cooked to doneness, but not crispy
• 1 small egg
• panko
• strong-flavored cheese (optional)

What to do:

1. After removing the stems, cook mushroom caps in oil at high/medium heat for about 2-2.5 minutes, remove.
2. Chop the stems and garlic.
3. Cook stems in the same pan at medium heat until most of the liquid cooks out, then add the garlic until cooked. Put in plate to cool.
4. Cook the bacon in the same pan until cooked, but not crispy. Put in same pan as stems/garlic to cool, leaving most of the bacon grease in the pan.
5. When cool, put the stems, garlic, bacon and scallions in a food processor to make a paste. You could also use an immersion blender.
6. Scramble the egg in a bowl and mix in a bunch of panko.
7. Stuff mushrooms with the utterly delicious paste, and top with egg/panko mixture (here you can add a bit of cheese, I used blue).
8. Cook in a glass baking sheet (with a little oil across the bottom to prevent sticking) at about 350 degrees until tops begin to brown.
9. Serve hot.

Notes:

The mushrooms I made look a bit “eggy,” but you can’t taste the egg from the mixture. If this concerns you, scramble only half an egg.

Next time I make these, I will use an additional slice of bacon to add more savory-ness to the dish, though my wife liked them, as is.

I added only a bit of cheese on top, which tasted fine, but if you’re inclined to use more cheese, do so.