If you read this blog on a regular (or semi-regular) basis, you might have noticed that most of our socializing revolves around food. Which is not a bad thing, at all. Not that great for my waistline, but, hey, life is good, mostly.
Last night was our monthly Boat Club get together, and as usual lots of fun dishes. I think because of the heat, many of the dishes brought were on the lighter side. I know I had a nice elaborate dish planned, but realized that I didn’t have all the ingredients for it, and really, I didn’t want to drive 7 miles into town, and then back again just for two things.
So I went into the pantry for inspiration. And found it in the freezer. Something about that cool air moving across my face, just inspired me. Cool air does that when it’s 90+ degrees outside. I’ll post the recipe that the cool air inspired at the end.
But in the meantime… the cast of characters, parade of dishes, yada, yada, yada…
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| Black Olive Tapenade with Bagel Chips |
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| Spicy Southwest Stuffed Mushrooms |
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| Coconut and plain fried Shrimp |
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| Hummus with Sriacha Sauce and Sesame Oil |
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| Tabbouli |
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| Garlic and Artichoke Hummus |
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| Marinated pork Tenderloin |
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| Strawberry dessert |
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| Cheese dip |
And now for the Southwest Stuffed Mushroom recipe.
I had a pound of fresh mushrooms I’d purchased a couple of days ago and I thought they would be great served as stuffed mushrooms. And here’s where the cool air from the freezer helped, giggle. I found a package of Spicy Black Bean Burgers and got an AHA! moment. And it didn’t even hurt. I used my trusty little hand operated food processor to make some fresh bread crumbs out of some almost stale bread and set them aside while I got the mushrooms ready.
I popped out the stems and set them aside, while I put the mushrooms on a rimmed baking tray, upside down. Hint: If you pop the mushrooms in the oven for about 10 minutes or so, they will par cook and release a lot of liquid, which you can then use in the filling or…
See that lovely liquid? That is what comes off of the mushrooms when they’ve been roasted just a few minutes. Also that liquid can make your filling soggy. I pour the mushroom juice into the filling, it adds a nice boost of flavour.
I chopped up the mushroom stems, sautéed them in some butter and olive oil, until they had released their liquid, then dumped them on top of the bread crumbs and mixed them all together. I had grated 6 oz. of Monterey Jack cheese while the mushrooms and stems were all cooking. Sometimes I can multi-task without burning stuff. At any rate, I also sautéed the Black Bean burger in the butter/olive oil mixture, just until it was hot all the way through, took it out and did a rough chop and added that along with the cheese into the breadcrumbs.
I tasted the filling at this point and decided it was missing something.
The spice and flavor were good but it needed to be amped up a little, so I grabbed a jalapeño, minced it finely, threw it into the pan with a touch more EVOO, and let it saute’ for a couple of minutes. Added that into the bread crumb mixture, tasted it and pronounced myself satisfied.
So I stuffed the mushrooms and threw them into the oven to cook.
And when they came out, I sprinkled a little more cheese on top, I mean, you can’t have too much cheese, put them into my to go container and headed off to Boat Club.
Recipe: Southwest Style Stuffed Mushrooms
1-2 lbs Fresh Mushrooms, stems removed
4 slices fresh bread made into soft bread crumbs
Stems from the mushrooms, chopped
2-3 Spicy Black Bean Burgers (Morningstar Black Bean Burgers)
1 finely minced Jalapeño
3 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons EVOO
6 -8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack Cheese, reserve 2 ounces set aside
Cook the chopped mushroom stems in the butter and EVOO, add the Black Bean burgers and cook until the burgers are heated through. Add the jalapeno at the end, just long enough to release their flavour, a minute or so. Chop up the burger.
Prepare the breadcrumbs while the mushroom stems and burgers are cooking, then mix them all together
Mix the breadcrumbs, mushrooms stems, Black Bean Burgers,cheese and jalapeño together. Set aside.
Par cook the mushrooms for a few minutes, then take out of oven, flip right side up and fill with the bread crumb mixture. Place into oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until browned a little. Sprinkle with the reserved cheese and pop back into oven for a just a minute or so until the cheese melts. Serve.
I filled 24 mushrooms, but had enough filling left over for about another 20 or so mushrooms, so it’s sitting in the freezer waiting til I get some more mushrooms, then I’ll make more, giggle.
Sid's cooking again... 