While good, the original recipe didn’t “WOW” me. The texture was wrong for me at least. Too soft, the mushroom didn’t seem to have much body and the stuffing didn’t really provide any contrast. The buttery taste with basil and thyme was good, but it needed some substance that my simple dried bread crumbs couldn’t provide. What I really wanted was better texture both from the mushroom and the stuffing.
Reloading
The plan was 3 fold: (1) use crimini (baby bella) mushroom instead of white button, (2) Panko bread crumbs instead of home made dry and (3) roast the caps slightly before adding the stuffing to draw out the moisture. The initial recipe is the same other than those changes.
I removed the stems from the caps as before, but then placed the caps on a baking sheet sans parchment paper. I drizzled 2 tbsp of olive oil on the caps along with salt and pepper. Rounded side down, they went into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes – basically until I could see some water pooling in the caps. Then they cooled some while I finished the stuffing.
After the stuffing was ready, including the new Panko bread crumbs, I emptied the water from the caps and then added the stuffing and hit them with the cheese. They went back in to the oven for 10 minutes or so until I could see them bubbling around the cap bottoms – again sans parchment paper since it still had olive oil in it.
After cooling slightly I moved them to a plate using tongs. There was just a tiny bit of sticking to baking sheet but nothing serious – probably could have used a tiny bit more oil.
The consistency was much better – not excessively soggy. There was a subtle resistance as I bit into one and the Panko bread crumbs did their job – they added just a tiny amount of texture to the stuffing. You could really tell where the mushroom ended and the stuffing began.
My wife even ate a couple and declared them “acceptable” – which is high praise indeed from a non-mushroom fan!
