Winicur Stuffed Mushrooms

It all started with my wife’s brilliant culinary epiphany from her inner voice known as “The Chef”. The Chef gave her a recipe with portabella mushrooms cut in strips, and it involved butter, lemon juice, sage, thyme, five-color ground peppercorns, and pink Himalayan salt. “Why pink Himalayan salt? I don’t know. I don’t even know what it is. But the voice tells me it is needed. And worse than that, I DON’T EVEN LIKE MUSHROOMS!”

So, after playing around with The Chef’s recipe, I went in a different direction and used it to create a new stuffed mushroom recipe. My mother used to make stuffed mushrooms for fancy parties, and she probably swatted my hands a few times because I absolutely loved them and would take them straight from the pan. I think she would have loved my recipe as well.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound baby bella mushrooms
• 2 shallots, chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ¼ cup bread crumbs
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoons ground sage
• 1 teaspoons ground thyme
• ½ teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
• ¼ teaspoon multicolor peppercorns, fresh ground

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Wash mushrooms and remove stems. Chop stems finely and sauté them in butter with chopped shallots and garlic until lightly browned. Add onions and garlic to remaining ingredients and mix together.
3. Place mushroom caps facing up on a cooking sheet and fill each cap with 2-3 teaspoons of stuffing.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes until mushrooms are soft and stuffing browns

Makes 16-20.