Stuffed Mushrooms

Mushrooms is something I’ve never liked. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, everyone in my family likes them so why can’t I? I have no problem cooking with them and for someone who doesn’t eat them everyone says they were cooked perfect. Every once in a while I work up the nerve to eat one to see if my taste of changed. I can’t even tell you why I dislike them, it’s a combo of the flavor and texture of it I guess.

Here’s my version of stuffed mushrooms. You can add the cheese on top or leave them plain. My recipe calls for 40 mushrooms, but I usually just buy 2 (8 ounce) cartons of the button mushrooms. Adjust everything accordingly and add what you like. In the past I’ve made some with sausage, some with rice, some with pecans, but the favorite seems to be keeping them simple as below.

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

40 mushrooms
1 cup butter
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon season salt
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
¼ cup parmesan cheese
juice from one small lemon
few slices of mozzarella cheese if desired

Rinse mushrooms. Cut a tiny part off the end of the mushroom stems; throw away. Pull out the stems and save. Scoop out the insides of the mushrooms and put in a medium size pot. Chop up the stems and add to pot. On medium heat, add ½ cup butter and Italian seasoning. Stir until butter has melted. Mix in the bread crumbs. When blended stir in cheese and egg, continue to stir until well blended. Stuff mushrooms to the rim and place in two 8×8 inch glass baking dishes. Place dabs of butter from the remaining ½ cup around mushrooms in the pan. Pour lemon juice in the bottom of the pan where butter dabs are. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If desired cut small squares of mozzarella cheese and add on top of mushrooms the last 5 min of baking to allow cheese to melt.

Yields 8 servings