Pizza Mushrooms
As much as I love garlicky stuffed mushrooms they can be quite potent. These cheese and tomato sauce stuffed mushrooms are just as tasty but in a more subtle way. The tomato sauce absorbs the juice that the mushrooms produce as they bake allowing the cheese and breadcrumb topping to become golden and crunchy. I got the idea for these mushrooms after eating Marks & Spencer's ratatouille stuffed mushrooms which are, unusually for M&S, quite bland. To prevent this from happening I added quite a lot of basil and a chunk of parmesan to the tomato sauce to boost the flavours.
I used a small food processor to make the sauce but a blender would work too. These mushrooms are an excellent accompaniment to salads or any Italian dish.
Ingredients
Serves: 2
- 4 large mushrooms
- 1 tsp tomato purée (regular or sun-dried)
- ½ clove garlic, peeled
- 8 cherry or 2 regular tomatoes
- small chunk Parmesan cheese or vegetarian equivalent (around 2cm)
- small handful basil
- a pinch oregano
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- 30g cheddar cheese
- Breadcrumbs to top
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C and oil a baking tray that will hold four mushrooms.
- Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and discard. Place the mushrooms on the baking tray.
- Combine the tomato puree, garlic clove, tomatoes, parmesan, basil, oregano and a drizzle of olive oil in a small food processor or blender and whizz into a paste.
- Add a little salt and pepper to the sauce.
- Spoon the tomato sauce into the four mushrooms and top with grated cheese (and breadcrumbs if using).
- Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the stuffing has turned golden brown on top.