When my family says “stuffed mushrooms,” these are the ones we’re referring to. Traditionally, mushrooms stuffed with Italian breadcrumbs were on for Thanksgiving before’s spread and might be a go-to appetizer for any occasion.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 24 medium firm brown or white mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
Prepare the breadcrumbs…
- 4 cups unseasoned bread crumbs, (1 hard loaf of Italian bread, grated)
- 2 hands full grated cheese, Romano or parmesan
- 3 anchovy fillets
- 2 -3 big cloves garlic, minced
- a few sprigs of fresh parsley, trimmed and chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
Coat a large frying pan with olive oil. When hot, add garlic and anchovies. Move them around in the pan until the anchovies have melted. Pour in bread crumbs, constantly stirring until all the bread crumbs are browned. Shut off heat. Add cheese and parsley, stirring until cheese melts into crumbs.
Stuff the mushrooms…
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Lightly coat the bottom of a baking dish or cookie sheet with olive oil.
- Using a demitasse spoon (or the smallest spoon you have), fill the mushrooms with breadcrumbs, gently patting the breadcrumbs down so they are amply filled
- Place the filled mushrooms on the baking dish without touching one another
- Drizzle olive oil over the top of each mushroom – or – you can brush the mushrooms with olive oil before stuffing
The old way for baking: simply bake on the cookie sheet 15 – 20 minutes until the mushrooms are tender.
The new way for baking: use a baking dish and put enough white wine or marsala wine in the bottom to fill about 1/4 inch. This provides the mushrooms with moisture while baking. Cover the mushrooms with tinfoil and bake about 10 minutes. Remove the tinfoil and bake another 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.
