Remembering the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," it seemed to apply equally well to mushrooms. I was given some beautiful fresh mushrooms and decided if life gave me mushrooms I'd make stuffed mushrooms! Here's the brief story behind the making of these Chapignons Farcis (Stuffed Mushrooms).
Speaking of life, it has been pretty hectic lately. Between creating and applying new processes for Covid-19 at work (have I mentioned I work at an amusement park?) and working some rather long days, I haven't had much time or energy for cooking "new" things. That being said, I have been cooking many of the things I've previously written about. It didn't seem all that interesting for you to read about but I've found it fun to be able to cook real food that we enjoy and realize I couldn't do it just over a year ago.
So there I was, looking at those mushrooms (while I was actually cooking ratatouille for dinner) and the though crossed my mind to do something I haven't done before. Since I'm such a fun guy (get it, funghi?) and had a few minutes to cook a simple recipe I dove into Julia's book and found a really simple and straightforward recipe for stuffed mushrooms.
After washing the mushrooms the center stem was removed and the caps were brushed with melted butter then placed upside down in a shallow baking dish. Three tablespoons each of finely minced onions and minced shallots were sauteed in two tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of olive oil for about three or four minutes. They need to be cooked enough to soften but not brown and then removed from the heat.
The dry ingredients of the stuffing mixture was made by combining three tablespoons of fine dry bread crumbs and a total of 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Julia called for Swiss and Parmesan cheese but I was out of Swiss (oh no!). I used 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar and 1/4 cup of Parmesan and it worked out just fine. Four tablespoons of minced parsley, 1/2 teaspoon of tarragon, and a dash of salt and pepper wrapped up the spices. All of these were mixed together and then added to the pan of sauteed onions and shallots. WARNING: This started smelling pretty good!
After the ingredients were mixed, an additional two tablespoons of melted butter were mixed in and then about 2 tablespoons of cream was added. The cream was added just a little at a time so that the stuffing didn't get to soft -- it needed to be able to be formed with a spoon and hold its shape.
All of the yummy stuff was then pressed into each mushroom cap, making a nice round dome. That was the hard part. Well, the hard part might have actually been the next part -- waiting for them to come out of the oven! The stuffed mushrooms went into the preheated oven, at 375 degrees, for about 15-20 minutes until they were nice and tender and the tops began to brown a bit.
I forgot to add a sprinkle of cheese on top of each just before serving but none of us seemed to mind -- these were delicious! We've brought home some stuffed mushrooms from the store before but these were much better. It took longer to write about it than it did to prepare them so this will be something I'll be making again -- simple ingredients, quick to make, and reallllllly tasty!
Bon Appetit!
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