A Quest for a Palette Pleasing Mushroom
As an adult, have you ever stopped to consider why you don’t like certain foods? I have. And along the way I have realized that there are many food items that I have decided I don’t like for no other reason than my parents don’t like them, so I naturally haven’t tried them. Raising children makes me stop and think about this a bit more often. What habits/tastes am I passing along to them?
The truth of the matter is, one of the foods in life that I have never liked are mushrooms. What do you mean you don’t like mushrooms, you are always posting about mushrooms and mushroom recipes on your menus? Well, it’s like I mentioned, it’s one of those foods my parents don’t like, thus, I don’t like them, right?
The thing is, my husband does and for all purposes I would like my children to at least try them and make a decision for themselves. So I am on a quest. A quest to find a mushroom recipe that will suit my palette. That will make my taste buds stand up and take notice. Okay, I will settle for a mushroom recipe that simply wins me over to eating mushrooms.
I know that Portabella mushrooms are pretty popular and I have even seen them smothered in balsamic dressing. And since I have a friend that has a to die for balsamic dressing recipe, I decide to whip up a recipe that might just win my taste buds over, Stuffed Balsamic Portabella Mushrooms.
Stuffed Balsamic Portabella Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 2 Portabella mushrooms
- Balsamic Dressing
- 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/3 cup Peanut Oil
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Wash and remove the stems of the Portabella mushrooms. Separately, mix together the ingredients for the balsamic dressing. In a shallow dish place some balsamic dressing on the bottom. Place the mushrooms in the balsamic dressing, tops down, rubbing the dressing into them a bit. Pour more balsamic dressing over top of the mushrooms filling them about half full of balsamic dressing. Cover and allow to marinate in refrigerator for 4-6 hours, but not longer than 24 hours. After marinating but before cooking, mix the Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, pepper, and salt. Place this mixture inside the mushrooms. To cook: grill them, tops down for approximately 4 minutes, with the grill lid on assisting in the melting of the cheeses. Remove from the grill and serve immediately.
Servings: 2
The verdict? My opinion was that they were edible (I had 4 bites) but they didn’t “win” my heart over to mushrooms. My husband thought they were great. My son, well, we are still working on getting him to try them!
I think this is a great recipe for serving in the spring and summertime when you have the grill out. It was super easy too!
So what about you? Can you help me in my quest? What is your favorite mushroom type? Your favorite mushroom recipe? If you haven’t always been a lover of mushrooms, what recipe won you over? I could use your help as I embark on my quest for a palette pleasing mushroom!
I never liked mushrooms, but I think I had sausage-stuffed mushroom caps at a party and they won me over! Sometimes I am in a mushroom mood, and sometimes they still make me shudder. I really like them in a ham and cheese omelet or over a steak.
If this recipe can’t win you over, you may just not like mushrooms
. I was the same way with tomatoes. I didn’t like them because my older sister didn’t like them. She decided she liked them, then I tried them, and now I love them!
I have HATED mushrooms my whole life…the texture, the flavor, the smell! At first, the only way I could tolerate them was sauteed and well seasoned. Then, I had an excellent cream of mushroom soup at a local restaurant. It was made with portobello mushrooms and another variety, a rich homemade beef stock and cream all blended smooth. That removed the texture issue and the flavor was amazing! The restaurant owner and maker of the soup said the trick was to season the mushrooms well and saute them slowly until they are well cooked.
I now LOVE well seasoned sauteed mushrooms, but mostly portobello because when cooked and seasoned well, they really do taste like steak. I use them in my grandma’s beef stroganoff recipe. I saute them with almost caramelized onions in butter and olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. I wait to taste them until their size is reduced by half and they are really limp! Delish! Then I add the steak pieces that have been seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. I cook it all until the meat is medium, then add Worcestershire sauce, A-1, ketchup, and dry mustard. Stir that together and then add beef broth and let it all simmer for a bit. At the end I add a dollop of sour cream. Yum! It’s the best beef stroganoff I’ve ever had.
Good luck. I think when you get past the texture issue through really thoroughly cooking the mushrooms, they are must more palatable and then you can add to and intensify the flavor.
Wow, Angie, I think with this comment you could win anyone over to mushrooms!
I love stuffed mushrooms- bread crumbs, parmesan, italian herbs
Here’s a recipe I saved to my recipe box online but haven’t tried. It got really great reviews.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Herbed-Mushrooms-with-White-Wine/Detail.aspx
I realized long ago that there were things that I actually like that I believed I didn’t like because my mom doesn’t like them. Mushrooms happens to be one of those things. I love mushrooms, and because I never want my kids to realize that they like something that they didn’t know they like, I sometimes cook things that I’m not particularly fond of, just to get them to try and decide for themselves.
I don’t like mushrooms and never have. I just heard from a fellow blogger who isn’t a mushroom fan that shiitake mushrooms don’t have that “mushroom” taste and she LOVES them. So she has convinced me to try them at some point.
A cheaper way to make this recipe would be to sub the balsamic dressing with Italian salad dressing. The first time I had a mushroom that I liked, they were marinated in Italian dressing.
[...] Stuffed Balsamic Portabella Mushrooms [...]
I love mushrooms. One recipe that I think you may like mushrooms in would be a quesadilla. Saute sliced onions and sliced portabella mushrooms in butter and add them to a flour tortilla with shredded jack cheese and top with another tortilla. Place in oven and bake till lightly golden brown and crisp. It’s one of my fav recipes.
I’m not the hugest mushroom fan, either, but some of these reader’s ideas are making me hungry!
Have you tried any of these yet, Tricia?
Oh, and BTW, thanks for linking up to Try New Adventures Thursday!
Alicia
I’m a little late it seems but i had to share this with you. First, I LOVE mushrooms, raw, cooked, creamed, it doesnt matter. and i use them in everything. But everyone loves this recipe, not just me. Even picky kids. And its super easy. All you do is take 8 oz softened cream cheese, stir in some chopped green onions and crumbled bacon pieces (do this to your family’s taste, i do a few green onions and a large handful of precooked packaged bacon pieces.) Clean and remove the stems from a pound of button mushrooms, scoop the cream cheese mixture into the mushroom caps, bake @ 350 until cheese starts to brown and the mushrooms are tender. I absolutely HAVE to have these at every family gathering or risk being shunned. Its that serious.
It is never too late! Thanks for sharing!
[...] might also remember several months ago I wrote about my quest for a palette pleasing mushroom. You’ll note in that post that I confess to not liking mushrooms but having a desire to push [...]