BeyondPasta

I have to thank my friend Kay for the discovery of this recipe. She was coming over for lunch and I was struggling to find a good vegetarian recipe to serve. Stuffed mushrooms are quite a famous Italian dish but I always thought they were hard to prepare. Well, I was wrong! This is an easy, tasty vegetarian dish! And it is even cheap!

This recipe is a new entry in my “recipe book” and it quickly made its way up into the recipes I repeat more often! It is a perfect appetizer, but I have also been serving it as a light main course accompanied by some toasted slices of bread.

Ingredients

• 1 lb whole white mushrooms (if you can find them of different sizes get the largest one)
• 2 medium size zucchini
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 tbs butter
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbs plain bread crumbs
• 7 tbs Parmesan cheese (divided)
• 1/4 cup white wine

Preparation

Wash the mushrooms to remove residual dirt. Remove the stems and set them aside. To remove the stem of a mushroom you just need to push it to one side (you will hear the pop of the stem detaching) and pull it, no tools required. Cut the stems, and a couple of mushroom caps, in pieces.

Now wash the zucchini, cut the ends and cut them in half lengthwise. Using a teaspoon, remove the core of the zucchini leaving a shell thick about 1/8″ (3 mm), it will resemble a green boat! Refer to picture 1 for the final result you should obtain. Cut in pieces the core of the zucchini and save it. This along with the chopped mushrooms will be the base of your stuffing.

Cut the surface of the garlic clove to let the juice out (or chop it if you’d like). Heat the butter and oil in a pan over medium-high heat and sauté the garlic. Add the chopped mushrooms and zucchini, stir and cover. Let cook for 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times (picture 2).

Chop the cooked mushroom and zucchini using a food processor, add a little oil if the mixture results too dry. Add to the mixture the bread crumbs and 5 tbs of parmesan cheese. Mix well and start filling the mushrooms caps and the zucchini using a teaspoon (picture 3).

Set the stuffed vegetables in an oiled baking pan, sprinkle the top with some oil and dust with the 2 remaining spoons of parmesan. Pour the wine in the pan, NOT on top of the vegetables. Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

Once done your stuffed mushrooms and zucchini will have a nice crust on top. Enjoy!