Barefoot Bloggers - Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas! Mine is about to begin. I'm on my way to South Beach (literally.....I'm typing this in the car and we're just South of Orando!!) for a week of fun in the sun with the 'rents and the nieces and nephew. I'm sure there will be no alcohol involved and that I won't come home wishing I was checking into Betty Ford immediately! This group knows how to have a good time. I'm going to try to remember that I'm not their age anymore and that I canNOT keep up with them! We'll see how that goes.

I haven't participated in too many Barefoot Bloggers in the past couple of months, but when I saw Michelle of Welcome to the Club had chosen Ina's Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms I was thrilled. Who isn't looking for a fabulous appetizer this time of year? No one!

I made these one night when it was just the hubs and I at home (if you aren't aware we've had a couple of squatters living with us recently but they'll be gone the first of the year. I might actually miss them. Maybe). It ended up being the only thing he got for dinner! We opened a bottle of wine and thoroughly enjoyed these. As with all of Ina's recipes, this makes a TON. I had 15 mushrooms (she calls for 16, so close enough) and only used half of the filling. I froze the rest of it and think it will be fabulous just tossed into some pasta. I'll let you know.

You start by browning your sausage. The recipe calls for sweet sausage, but I say why use sweet when spicy is soooooo much better. But that's just me. Feel free to use sweet if you're not feeling so frisky.

Ummm...back up a moment here. I forgot to tell you to remove the stems from your shrooms and chop up the stems. Throw the caps into the oil and marsala and let sit until your ready to stuff.

Okay...back to the sausage. Toss in those stems that you just chopped and sautee those until they're soft.

Add the scallions and garlic. At this point you're going to want to shove your face into the skillet (don't. it's hot.) because it smells like h.e.a.v.e.n.

Add the panko. I never would have thought of adding panko but these make for an amazing texture.

Toss in the mascarpone. Ina calls says "preferably Italian" which threw me. Isn't mascarpone inherently Italian?? Doesn't matter. I didn't have any. I used cream cheese....preferably American.

This is where things get really gooooood. Stir that until all that creamy goodness melts together then pull it off the heat.

Add the parsley and the parmesan and season to taste with S&P.

Put your marinated mushroom caps into a pan that they fit nice and snug into. They each need to have their own place in the world but not be able to move around much.

Stuff those suckers with that delunkshus sausage mixture while periodically taking a bite for yourself. Hopefully you'll have enough left for all the shrooms.

Then bake them for about 50 minutes and serve.

These are definitely going into the app rotation. Try these.

Here's the recipe:

Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

16 extra-large white mushrooms
5 tablespoons good olive oil, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons Marsala wine or medium sherry
3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from the casings
6 scallions, white and green parts, minced
2 garlic cloves minced
2/3 cup panko crumbs
5 ounces mascarpone cheese, preferably from Italy
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them finely. Set aside. Place the mushroom caps in a shallow bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and Marsala. Set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, crumbling it with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook the sausage for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until it's completely browned. Add the chopped mushroom stems and cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the scallions and garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the panko crumbs, stirring to combine evenly with all the other ingredients. Finally, swirl in the mascarpone and continue cooking until the mascarpone has melted and made the sausage mixture creamy. Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, parsley, and season with salt and pepper, to taste, Cool slightly.

Fill each mushroom generously with the sausage mixture. Arrange the mushrooms in a baking dish large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a snug single layer. Bake until the stuffing for 50 minutes, until the stuffing is browned and crusty.