THINGS I LIKE: Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Ever since I was a young man and tasted my first baked, stuffed mushroom, a totally elegant one at what was at that time a very fancy, up-scale NY restaurant, “The Forum of the Twelve Caesars”, which consisted of a large white mushroom filled with half a toasted walnut, topped with a snail and covered with snail butter sauce (butter, chopped parsley and plenty of garlic), I have been a fan of stuffed mushrooms.  Not necessarily fancy filled ones, as described above, but more the “down to earth” kind.  My “go to” stuffed mushroom, has the mushrooms filled with sweet Italian sausage, (my own home-made or store bought), pieces of toasted pine nuts, shredded Parmesan cheese, chopped Italian parsley, fennel seed and oregano, drizzled with Olive oil and baked. This has been a dish enjoyed by my wife Susan and me on a regular basis in our home. However, always trying to find new ways to modify and still enjoy familiar dishes to us, I came up with the following variety on stuffed mushrooms. It turned out to be a success because when I first served it to Susan, she said she really enjoyed them. With feed-back like that, I had to share the recipe with my friends. It follows.

 CHEESE STUFFED MUSHROOMS

INGREDIENTS

1) 1 C shredded mozzarella cheese
2) 1/2  C shredded, real Parmesan cheese (or Romano)  
3)  3/4 C toasted Pine nuts, coarsely chopped.
4)  1 clove minced garlic
5)  8-10 pieces of sun dried tomato in olive oil, placed in food processor until finely chopped.
6)  2 tsp dried or 2 Tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped
7) TT salt* and freshly ground black pepper
8) oil from tomatoes plus Extra Virgin Olive Oil
9) 2 pints button mushrooms, medium to large size, stems removed and washed, if necessary.

PREPARATION

 Preheat oven to 375C

1) Mix ingredients 1-6 in a large bowl. Add enough of the sun-dried tomato olive oil to totally coat all ingredients (add Olive oil, if necessary) and mix. Using your clean hands is the best way.
2)  Stuff mixture into mushrooms, mounding slightly until all are filled.  Number will depend on size of mushrooms. Place on  Olive oiled or parchment lined sheet pan.
3) Place in oven and bake until, cheese is melted and mushrooms cooked through; 30-45 minutes.

Serve: individually, as an hors d’oeuvre, 2-3 as an appetizer or with a salad as a main lunch or dinner course, depending on how many you serve as a portion. 

*One should always taste, taste, taste when preparing a dish. In this case, taste stuffing mixture before adding salt since the cheeses used can vary in saltiness. Different Mozzarella cheeses may vary in their saltiness and if you are using Romano instead of Parmesan this is especially true, since Romano is saltier than Parmesan. Adjust the amount of salt to suit your taste.

FOOD TRIVIA: Ten Interesting Facts About Beer

1) California drinks the most beer in the United States.

2 The most popular US beer is Bud Lite.

3) 72 pints of beer makes a Firkin.

4) The word "bridal" comes from the 19th century Englishman's custom of taking his friends out for a final "Bride ale" the day before his wedding.

5) The first brewing of Pilsner beer took place in 1842 in  Pilsen, Bohemia, now The Czech Republic.

6) The oldest active brewery in the world, started by Benedictine monks in 1040, is Weinstephan Brewery in Bavaria, Germany.

7) Saint Brigid is the Patron Saint of beer in Ireland. Why? It is said that while working in a leper colony she ran out of beer, the safe and nutritious drink for her leper patients.
However, her blessed power allowed her to turn her bath water into beer for them.

8) A barrel of beer contains 31 gallons. What American's refer to as a "keg" actually contains 15.5 gallons; only a half barrel.

9) In 1516, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria enacted the worlds first consumer protection law. He established a purity law limiting the ingredients of beer only to barley, hops and water.

10) The Scandinavian toast "Skol" derives from "scole", a beer drinking  bowl shaped like the upper part of a human skull. the Vikings actually drank their beer from the skulls of enemies killed in battle.