Hannehanne of supperinstereo had asked me what I had planned to do with the Portobello mushrooms I had bought from the market last Sun. Well, I had a Monday lunch with one of my dear friends Liz of the chocolate factory fame and we had these together with my arugula salad, pizza, pizza and more homemade thin crust pizza. There are books written about Sunday lunch (ie Gordon Ramsay’s) But no one writes about Monday lunch. I imagine people eating at work cafeterias or sweating it out at hawker centers. Who has time for a leisurely lunch on Mondays! Since Monday is the new Sunday for me, I dedicate Mondays to cook the one dish that I’ve always been planning to. Or in the case of that Monday, to cook a meal and enjoy the company of my dear curly haired friend. I have fallen in love with the taste of these mushrooms, they are so mushroomy and the beautiful large size and generous caps mean that they’re begging for a good stuffing. In order to retain their shape, I chose to prepare the meat stuffing first than stuffing them and allowing the mushrooms to grill in the oven. These are really easy to prepare and the stuffing also went atop one of our pizzas. I made a lot and froze half in the freezer. Its good when mixed with a beaten egg and plastered on French bread then fried egg mixture side down for an easy dinner. Or sometimes I stir thru tinned tomatoes and some pasta. The salad and pizza will come in another post. I also made a crème brulee from cooking with engineers which I have mixed emotions over.
Stuffed Portobello mushrooms
Ingredients
250g minced beef
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 small green chilli
Handful of chopped coriander
Salt to taste
8 medium Portobello mushrooms
Olive oil
Method
Heat oil in pan. Saute onion till golden brown. Add chilli and garlic. Add minced beef and cook till dry. Season to taste. Stir in coriander and take off heat. Trim stalks off mushroom. Spread olive oil on pan and drizzle on each mushroom. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Stuff with about tablespoon on meat mixture. Roast in oven at 180C for 20 mins. Finish with grating of parmesan cheese and reserved coriander stalks.
Yummy! An elegant dish indeed.
Easy mushroom stuffing:
Get some regular-sized mushrooms (1-2″ caps).
Get some onions and carrots and garlic (to taste).
Ger some real butter, Brummel & Brown (don’t laugh — sliced mushrooms heated in a closed container, with a dab of B&B, in the nuker for a minute, are wonderful atop grilled steak) , or olive oil.
Get some wild rice, preferably the genuine hand-harvested kind (you’ll know it’s the real deal if the package tells you it’ll be ready in 25 minutes).
Get some chicken stock (I make it myself and freeze it in ice cube trays for ease of usage; one cube = 1.5 oz or so).
Boil up ten-eleven chicken stock cubes (about 16 oz. worth) and toss in the wild rice. While that’s cooking (keep it at a low boil with the lid on), remove the stems from the ’shrooms and mince them, along with the onions, garlic, and carrots. Sauté the resulting minced goodies in your butter/B&B/olive oil for just long enough to heat it through, then stuff into caps and put in oven at 180C (350F for you Americans) for fifteen minutes. Serve with the wild rice (which should be done by now — you know it’s done when the grains have all split) as an accompaniment.
…and I had a MacDonald’s lunch. Sigh…
I lurrrve mushrooms, and your pic of the stuffed mushroom just sounds like what my sweetest dreams are made of
ovenhaven: I’m a so-so about mushrooms but I really loved these and so did my mom, who generally finds my food slightly strange. Especially my “gourmet meals” Hehe. U can find the portobello mushrooms from Giant, its $4.55 for about 6 in a pack. According to the label it comes from Genting Highlands Malaysia (not Italy
) Or u could come to Marine Parade market and hunt for the “apek” (ie old chinese man) who sold me these for $4 for 8. Its not that difficult to find as the market is quite small.
Mel: Well.. You were invited… poor mel.. Another time k??
Mondays are the new Sundays…jealous.
These look lovely! I’ve never stuffed portobellos. I like the idea. I love mushrooms, but except for the plain white button mushrooms, they’re always so expensive. I hardly ever buy them. My brother’s wife makes a marinated mushroom burger when she gets portobellos. She puts hers between two buns, but I think I’d marinate mine as use them as the buns with a nice big slice of cheese and some basil and tomato in the middle.
Your pizza sounds lovely too, by the way.
I love portabello mushrooms. I was actually thinking of posting a recipe of stuffed mushrooms … and this make me want to do it as soon as possible..!
Great recipe!
again, great loking pictures, love the corny crispy lights and shadows
Zu: thanks, coming from the expert, I really appreciate the compliment!
hanne: sounds lovely, I may not be able to get such large mushrooms though. These were quite small to begin with and They seemed to have really shrunk after they were grilled. Using them as buns will really cut down on those carbs don’t u think.
Jen: I think we should all go vegetarian on some meals, I completely agree with what u said on ur previous post. There are so many textures and flavours vegetables have to offer.
Phoenix woman: I like ur nick, it makes u sound like a superhero! Thanks for the recipe. Being very Asian, I’m so used to eating rice as a background staple, it never occured to me that it can be used as an ingredient.
What a beautiful dish!
I have a good friend who loves mushrooms and she would be thrilled with this recipe!
That looks simply delicious. I love mushrooms.