STUFFED MUSHROOMS
Stuffed mushrooms are an awesome appetizer. They do require a bit of work to make, but they’re always popular. You can stuff them with many different kinds of fillings, but my favorite is a simple mix of crab meat, scallion, and a splash of lemon juice. SERVES 4
PREP TIME: 20 minutes
COOK TIME: 15 minutes
20 to 24 ounces whole mushrooms (white or baby bellas)
12 ounces canned crab
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped, divided
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Wash the mushrooms (if you don’t like to wash them, you can wipe them down with a damp paper towel, although I’ve found that rinsing them in water doesn’t really mess up the texture the way some people think it does) and remove the stems—you can just pop them right off. Spoon out the fibrous underside so the mushrooms are hollow.
- In a large bowl, mix to combine the crab, most of the basil (reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish), and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, and then spoon some filling into each mushroom cap. Put them on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Garnish with the remaining 2 tablespoons of basil and serve.
VARIATION 1 SHRIMP-STUFFED MUSHROOMS: Use 12 ounces cooked shrimp instead of crab—make sure to chop it really finely. Follow the rest of the recipe as written.
VARIATION 2 SAUSAGE-STUFFED MUSHROOMS: Sauté ¼ onion, chopped, with 2 or 3 cloves minced garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 5 minutes. Add ½ pound spicy Italian sausage, and cook until no longer pink, another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool, and use the mixture to stuff the mushrooms.
PREP TIP: You can chop up the mushroom stems and sauté them quickly before adding them to the filling if you don’t want to throw them away. Also, you can assemble these stuffed mushrooms ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze them until ready to bake.
