Stuffed Mushrooms

\Mushrooms are brown.  Even when stuffed with amazing aromatics, onions, rice and nuts - they're still very monochromatic.  And albeit delicious - they aren't very good subject material for photographs.  So in an effort to make today's blog post more visually appealing - I'm adding a few of the pictures that I took this morning at the Monroe Blooms flower festival.  The pictures really have nothing to do with a recipe about stuffed mushrooms other than the fact that they add some color to what would otherwise be a very brown blog post.  😅

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love this little town that I get to call home.  This was my first visit to the flower festival and I was totally impressed.  So many beautiful flowers and I'm not color bashing mushroom brown by any means, but the vibrant colors of the flowers at the festival were incredible. 🌼  

Now onto the recipe of the day - stuffed mushrooms. 🍄 I'm not much of a meat or pork eater so a lot of times, I'll make myself a big stuffed mushroom as an alternative to a hot dog and a burger at summer cookout.  I normally stuff my mushrooms with cheese and spinach so when I found this brown rice and pine nut stuffed version, I was intrigued.  

Stuffed Mushrooms
1/2 cup pine nuts
​3/4 cup brown rice
3-4 large portobello mushrooms
olive oil
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chicken or vegetable bouillon
fresh lemon juice
​1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet until lightly browned.  

Cook rice according to package directions.  

Remove stems from mushrooms and chop.  

Arrange mushrooms, gill side up, on foil lined baking sheet.  Drizzle with oil. 

Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper.  Bake 10 minutes at 350.  

Heat 3 T. oil in skillet.  Add onion and cook 10 minutes until softened. 

Stir in pine nuts, chopped mushroom stems, garlic and rosemary.  Cook 7-10 minutes.

Add rice and parmesan and stir to combine.  

Remove mushroom caps from oven.  Drain any juices into rice mixture.  Return to oven for a few minutes to dry.

Stir lemon juice and broth into rice mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.  

Fill each mushroom cap with filling.  

Bake 15-20 minutes longer. 

I was never unhappy with my recipe for cheese stuffed mushrooms but I feel like this rice and nut filled version is more of a "meal" mushroom rather than an appetizer "mushroom".  Does that even make sense?  Maybe it's because I made big portobellos instead of small ones but these seem heartier and more filling than a cheese stuffed mushroom. I think that there's room for both types of stuffed mushrooms in my life though.  🤣
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Ciao!

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