Baked stuffed mushrooms
Funghi ripieni al forno
Valentina Harris
SERVES 4
Preparation 10 minutes
Cooking 25 minutes
Choose the biggest mushrooms you can find in order to make this really easy because life is still too busy to stuff individual, tiny mushrooms! Autumn in Italy heralds the start of the porcini season and you can find huge fresh ones for sale on virtually every vegetable stall, but any tasty mushroom with a good dense texture will also work very well in this recipe. You can of course vary the type of cheese you decide to use according to your own preferences. I like to serve this as a starter, with a few salad leaves.
4 very large mushrooms or 5 slightly smaller ones
4-5 tbsp ricotta
2 tbsp very soft Gorgonzola cheese
4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 tbsp soft white breadcrumbs
2 tbsp fresh, chopped flat-leaf parsley
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
fine sea salt and freshly milled black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4.
Wipe the mushrooms clean and remove the stalk. Chop the stalks up very small and put the chopped stalks into a bowl. Add the ricotta, Gorgonzola, half the Parmesan, the breadcrumbs and parsley. Use the resulting mixture to fill the mushrooms generously. Brush an ovenproof dish large enough for all the mushrooms to sit in flat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place the filled mushrooms on the oiled surface. Drizzle the remaining oil around and over the mushrooms. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until soft and golden brown on top. Serve at once.
