Killer easy appetizer

[Jenise]

Last night a friend brought over a tray of stuffed mushrooms. The stuffing was merely gruyere cheese tossed with pesto sauce and heaped in the caps, then baked about 15 minutes until melty and the cheese just started to brown. Awesome!

Sounds gooey yummy!

That does sound good and very convenient. Heck, you could decide to make that on the way home from work, pick up gruyere, shrooms, and a jar of good pesto, and have everything done in a half hour or so.

[Jenise]

Exactly, Mike. I love stuffed mushrooms but always do more complicated, time-consuming stuffings. I just loved the simplicity of this one.

I ended up making this tonight for our weekly neighborhood get-together. There was a lot of food at this one, but those mushrooms disappeared immediately.This recipe (if you can even call it that) is a real keeper.

[Jenise]

I ended up making this tonight for our weekly neighborhood get-together. There was a lot of food at this one, but those mushrooms disappeared immediately.This recipe (if you can even call it that) is a real keeper.

Not surprised! The pesto is so aromatic, and the pretty oozing green cheese is a visual attraction. They would attract a crowd all by themselves.

I ended up making this tonight for our weekly neighborhood get-together. There was a lot of food at this one, but those mushrooms disappeared immediately.This recipe (if you can even call it that) is a real keeper.

Not surprised! The pesto is so aromatic, and the pretty oozing green cheese is a visual attraction. They would attract a crowd all by themselves.

That's pretty much what happened. As soon as I put them down in and amongst a lot of other food, I heard people saying "Oooh, stuffed mushrooms!". I think they were gone in about five minutes.

I have a stand-by (don't know if I've done it for you). Take a small dinner plate sized Portobello, remove the stem and flip it upside down. Sprinkle finely chopped shallot on it, drizzle with a bit of truffle oil and balsamic, let sit in the fridge for a half hour and top with chopped parsley and Parmesan or Gruyere. Broil or grill until the cheese is melted and the mushroom lightly cooked. Goes perfectly with Burgs, Sangio, Nebbiolo etc.

[Jenise]

Bill, love that idea (no, you haven't served that one to me). Makes a great small plates course or meat-substitute main course out of a single mushroom.

But back to the smaller ones, I've been invited to a BBQ on Wed where guests are bringing the sides for ribs. It dawns on me that these stuffed with smoked mozzarella would be spot-on and yet nicely different from the usual suspects everyone else is bringing.
DONE.

Bill, love that idea (no, you haven't served that one to me). Makes a great small plates course or meat-substitute main course out of a single mushroom.
.

It is perfect as a small appie course with a glass of Burg! I think I prefer the Parmesan on top rather than a cheese that melts down and gets gluey (is that a word?) and that you have to cut apart, but to each his own.

PS - I'm doing a mushroom featuring terrine this year. Should be vealy nice!