Looking for a new starter, canape Italian style… or should I rather say antipasto *tongue in cheek* Well… welcome to my lesson on how to make these stuffed mushrooms… stuffed with nothing other than basil pesto!
I LOVE Italian food, it’s probably the cuisine I could easily eat everyday if had the choice of only one and what’s better, I LOVE cooking Italian food ! The country itself is so appealing. I am yet to travel there, but I can promise you it’s on my list!
Did you know pesto originated in the Liguria region of Italy, specifically the city of Genoa?
I am not too familar with this exact city, but like almost every city in Italy… look how amazingly picturesque this place is! I can just imagine the amazing pesto infused foods they serve.
So back to the food…
What you need?
- 3 Big brown mushrooms (when buying these, select the mushrooms with the deepest inset, so the sides rise high to trap all the stuffed goodness. Shallow insets won’t allow you to fill them too much, or the filling will all melt out instead of stay inside the mushroom)
- 1/2 tub plain cream cheese, previously frozen and completely defrosted (weird, but trust me)
- 4 TBSP Pesto (see my previous post on making basil pesto or search for it under my Recipes on the fly – dips and sauces)
- Freshly ground black pepper
What to do?
Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius. Line a baking tray with tin foil and lightly grease with butter or Spray-and-Cook to prevent the mushrooms from sticking to the foil.
Place the mushrooms face down on the foil and place in the oven for 10 minutes.
While these cook in the oven, mix 1/2 of the required thawed cream cheese quantity into the basil pesto (if you taking the pesto out of the freezer per my previous blog, make sure it is completely thawed). Take the mushrooms out of the oven and spoon the pesto cream cheese mixture on the mushrooms. Dollop teaspoon quantities of the remaining cream cheese on the filled mushrooms. Add freshly ground black pepper to the mushrooms. You will see the pesto and cream cheese provides enough salt flavor and so you only need some black pepper.
Pop them back into the oven for a further 10-15 minutes. If the cream cheese was not frozen before thawing and using it, it will melt to liquid before the mushrooms are done in the oven, instead of rather staying as dollops on top of the stuffed mushroom.
Turn up your oven to grill and grill the stuffed mushrooms for a further 3-5 minutes, this broils the filling nicely and gives that crispy color to the cream cheese dollops. This last step is optional… the smell coming from your oven while they are cooking can be too unreal to have the patience to wait the additional 3-5 minutes… the struggle is real.
Serve these stuffed mushrooms as a antipasto on a bed of rocket with a few roasted cherry tomatoes for presentation ! YUMM
