Brielle's Avalon

Mushrooms were on sale last night, so I grabbed a basket. Lately I’ve been getting sliced mushrooms because they’re faster for whatever I want them in and usually I just saute them with onions anyway, but I haven’t had stuffed mushrooms in SO LONG! I got the original recipe from a 1960s paperback vegetarian cookbook (something like Apples to Zucchini Vegetarian Cooking of something like that) but it’s been misplaced (I’m hoping it’ll show up at my daughter’s place?) but I made it so many times I’ll just wing it now.

As a side note, I’m experimenting with organic wheat flour to see if it’s the wheat or something else (glysophate used when harvesting) that’s bothering me. Couldn’t hurt anything but my pocketbook (it costs twice as much as regular flour). I made some bread last week so I’ll toast the last of it up and make some breadcrumbs.

I’m also making organic pita bread today to have for dinner with leftover chicken and home-made tzadziki sauce. I made brownies earlier and pasties at the same time so I figured why heat the house up later and just kept cooking. While one thing is cooking you can be prepping another.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms, large enough to stuff their caps

Butter, olive oil, bacon fat, schmaltz or whatever is handy

Finely chopped whole shallot or onion (about 1/4 onion, depending on the size)

Garlic

Salt, pepper, thyme, basil, dill, mint or whatever seasonings you have in the pantry or garden that sound good

Chopped nuts

Bread crumbs

Grated Parmesan, Gouda, Swiss, mozzarella, cheddar or whatever cheese is handy

Beer, wine, lemon juice, teriyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce or whatever to moisten as needed

Brush the mushrooms clean (it’s OK to briefly rinse them), take out their stems and finely chop the stems.

Finely chop a shallot or 1/4 onion then melt 2 Tbsp or so of fat (I’m using butter and some olive oil this time) and saute the mushroom stems and onion til soft.

Mince the garlic.

Add the garlic and seasonings.

Whizz nuts in a little blender or food processor and set aside then break down some bread for the blender/processor.

Whizz the stale to dry bread or crackers in there too to clean out the nut bits that stick to the sides.

Turn off heat and add chopped nuts and breadcrumbs.

Add cheese. If the mix is too dry add Worchestershire, teriyaki sauce, wine, beer, lemon juice or whatever sounds good. Keep in mind that the mushrooms will add moisture as they cook, too.

Use a spoon and your fingers to fill the mushroom caps.

Oil a pan or tray and arrange the mushroom caps on it. Spray oil is fine but so is olive oil, butter or whatever’s handy to quickly spread a thin layer on with your fingers. You can also sprinkle Parmesan on top if you want to.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 to 10 minutes (I took the 10 minutes today because they went into the oven as it was heating up for the pitas).

Serve with other appetizers or alone with wine, beer, or the beverage of your choice. Enjoy a snack while waiting for the oven to heat up so you can bake the pita breads you made today. Also, ignore the small bags of hardware in the background, I still need to fix the kitchen drawer fronts.