Saturday I got the bug to make some stuffed mushrooms. I hadn't done it in years and they're so damn simple it's a shame not to do it. The only hitch was it was for a large family dinner and meat was already well represented, so I needed to make them meatless. No problem. A little research and a little creative thinking later and I was rolling!

The Recipe

50 medium fresh mushrooms

Half a medium-sized white onion

1 (6 ounce) package chicken flavored dry stuffing mix

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups butter

6 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder to taste

crushed red pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation

1. Begin by removing the stems from the caps and reserving them.



2. Prepare the stuffing according to directions. Yes, I cheated and was lazy using a mix. And yes you could probably substitute seasoned breadcrumbs/croutons. But did you show up to help with dinner Saturday? No. No you didn't.



3. Finely chop the mushroom stems and onion. Add the chopped onion and mushrooms to a mixing bowl.
4. Once cooled, combine stuffing, onion, stems, four cloves of garlic (more or less according to preference), Parmesan, cream cheese, salt, pepper and red pepper. Mix well.
5. Adjust the taste as needed.
6. Melt butter and add 2 cloves of garlic. Heat for five minutes.
7. Begin spooning mixture into caps, heaping generously. Place finished caps on large sheet pan. I actually ended up with more stuffing than caps so you could probably go as many as 70 mushrooms if you wanted.





8.Spoon the garlic-butter over the mushrooms.



9.Generously cover caps with mozzarella cheese.



10.Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.



Serve and receive adulations gracefully.