Stuffed Portobello mushrooms with mozzarella cheese
A recipe from Italian cuisine
An Italian way to prepare mushrooms. It can be served both as an appetizer and as a main dish, in case you’re not very hungry.
How healthy are they?
- They contain chitin, which clears arteries and decreases the risk of heart diseases.
- They are rich in diet fibers and support the heart function.
- Also, they have a positive impact on the immune system.
Therefore, provide yourself with some mushrooms 🙂 .
components
- 3teaspoons olive oil (or butter)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon parsley- optional
- 8 bigger Portobello mushrooms
- 200 gr mozzarella cheese
- 10-12 cherry tomatoes
- fresh basil
Instruction
- Set the oven at 180°C.
- Cut mozzarella into smaller cubes
- Cut cherry tomatoes in half
- Make glaze for Portobello mushrooms of butter or olive oil, garlic and parsley, and use it to cover every mushroom from all sides
- Fill mushrooms with mozzarella and cherry tomatoes
- Line them on the tinplate (put baking paper) and cook them in the oven for about 8 minutes
- When they’re done, drizzle them with balsamic glaze and freshly chopped basil
- Serve while warm
A detail description of mushrooms, you can see here.
Stuffed mushrooms
Portobello mushrooms can be found on almost every market. They are brown and rich in flavors. They have fleshy structure and are, therefore, frequently called ‘a vegetarian steak’. These Italian mushroom caps can be between 7.5 cm and 20 cm wide. Just like the rest of mushrooms, these also have to be thermally processed, so that you are sure they are edible.
This is a quick and a simple recipe.
Mushrooms should be cleaned before usage as much as it is possible, with paper or gauze. Avoid washing them under the spout of water, because they contain a lot of water in them.
Just as a reminder, don’t forget to cover the mushrooms with a mixture of garlic and olive oil (or butter, or their combination) before you put the filling. Put as much garlic as you like. However, don’t overdo it, in case you plan to go out after the lunch 🙂 , your company won’t enjoy it.
The purpose of the ingredients
The list of ingredients for the stuffed mushrooms, as you can see, is not a long one… it all can fit in one plate.
Filling can be made of olive oil or butter, or combination of both in same amount. You can also add chopped parsley to the filling, though I left it out this time because I ended putting basil eventually.
Basel somehow seems to traditionally match with mozzarella.
As for mozzarella, the best is the buffalo mozzarella, but it is also the most expensive one. I used the simplest pizza mozzarella here, and you can do the same. It is just as tasty.
And then, the first coat, then the filling, so that they would eventually get this look:
Bake it in the oven for a couple of minutes, and splash some balsamic vinegar (you can find it in any store, it is sold as a kind of glaze) and chopped basil leaves.
In case you want to make your own balsamic glaze, it is very simple, and you can do it like this:
¼ cup balsamic vinegar and two teaspoons brown sugar, heat it on the stove until it boils. Then lower the temperature of the stove and cook for another 8 minutes until the mixture reduces, i.e. thickens.
This all matches well with some meat or a glass of Italian wine of your choice.
Enjoy the flavors of Italy, they’re so simple and unique.
Bon appetite!
