Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Wellington

There's not much to say about this mushroom main dish except that it is incredible. The meatiness of the grilled mushroom is perfectly complemented by the richness of the stuffing. The puff pastry adds a nice crunchy texture to the dish, so it all comes together nicely.

We served this wonderful dish with a baked sweet potato topped with brown sugar and butter and a side salad that included local pears and blue cheese. Think of it as an updated version of an 80's throwback dinner menu that's easy enough for a weeknight, but fancy enough to serve to guests.

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Wellington
(serves 4)

4 medium Grilled Portobello Mushrooms (recipe follows)
Mushroom Stuffing
puff pastry (or phyllo dough)
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Divide stuffing among the mushrooms creating a layer of stuffing on each flat mushroom and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using a coffee can as a template and the tip of a sharp knife, cut puff pastry into rounds that equal the size of the mushroom (about 4 inches across), brush each round generously with olive oil, and place on the baking sheet next to the mushrooms. When the pastry is brown, the filling should be coked through. This should take about 20 minutes. To serve, top each stuffed mushroom with a puff pastry.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon red miso (or soy sauce in which case omit salt)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 medium portobello mushrooms

Whisk ingredients together until well incorporated. Pour mixture over the gill-side of two large (or 4 small) whole portobello mushroom caps. Allow mushrooms to marinate for a half hour. Starting gill-side-down, grill mushrooms over a high flame for about 4 minutes per side. While mushrooms are cooking, place a brick or cast iron pan on top of them to flatten them.


Mushroom Stuffing

1 leek (cleaned, trimmed, and sliced, about 1 to 1 1/2 a cups)
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup apple juice
1 cup button mushrooms (thinly sliced)
2 sprigs thyme (stems removed)
2 ounces soft goat cheese (crumbled)
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

Pull the first tough layer off of the leek and discard. Begin slicing 1/2 inch slices from the leek starting at the root end. Slice up the leek until it becomes darker green and tough, somewhere near the middle. Discard the top and the root end. Now, using you thumb, push the rings of the leek apart dropping the individual rings into a large bowl of clean water. Swish the leek rings around in the water to dislodge any dirt. Drain water off of the rings. In a 10-inch skillet over medium heat, slowly cook the leeks in the butter. This should take about 15 or 20 minutes. Once the leeks have softened, turn up the heat and add the apple juice to deglaze the pan. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Place leeks in a mixing bowl to cool. Now sauté mushrooms in the hot pan until brown. Add mushrooms to leek mixture and allow mixture to cool. Add the thyme, goat cheese, egg, and panko and mix to incorporate. The mixture should be thick, not loose. Add more panko if needed. Set mixture in the fridge until ready to use.

3 comments:

  1. yum, loooooooove stuffed mushroom.

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  2. I was a little lost with this recipe when I skimmed over it. I think that is why I chose it. I was not sure how to stuff portobellos and was not sure how to use puff pastry. It would be a fun experiment, I thought.

    One typo:roast cheese in the last paragraph should read goat cheese unless I am wrong :)

    There were a lot of steps in this recipe and it took me a while (30-40 mins) from prep to putting in the oven, but it was worth it! SO rich and so tangy from the apple juice deglazing, it really left you wondering what was in the dish (if I didn't already know).

    The recipe might be less confusing if you could tell readers what the final product will look like. Like, the stuffed part of the mushroom instead actually stuffed inside the portobello; it is spread on top of the gill side. Also, I needed some help with the leek prep--hence my phone call. Thanks for helping me out! I did not know how much of the top of the leek to cut and also didn't know I would have to wash each layer, as it contains a lot of sandy mud.

    I also ended up putting a dollop of butter in the thinly sliced mushrooms pan because the pan was dry from deglazing with the apple juice and the mushrooms needed some fat to cook down correctly, I thought.

    Cooking the filling and the puff pastry with the portobello on 375 for 20 minutes yielded perfectly cooked everything; the timing was right on.

    I really, really liked this one and I think that vegetarians will love the richness and the "meatiness" of this dish. It is filling also--one mushroom layered with one puff pastry was all I needed.

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