Well, there is cause for celebration. Tomorrow’s a company holiday and we won’t be going back to work until Tuesday. A lot of my friends are leaving town to be with their families for All Saints’ Day or to have a weekend getaway somewhere. My cousin Joyce invited me to spend the weekend with her and her family at her in-laws’ house in Tagaytay (as I used to do) but I decided to stay in Makati this time to get plenty of rest and to get some things done: 1.) Purchase plane tickets for Christmas trip ; 2.) Take camera to the Sony Service Center; 3.) Register as a voter for the 2010 elections (Last chance this weekend!); and 4.) Do more kitchen experiments.
So, speaking of #4, I came up with the idea for this recipe while walking home yesterday. The idea for buttered mushrooms came from my colleague, Moppet, who said (with all conviction) that one can never go wrong with cooking mushrooms in butter; the idea to stuff them was inspired by a female chef in a cooking competition I saw on TV in passing while hanging out at my cousin’s apartment last August. (I stopped watching TV eight years ago.) Anyway, the female chef was eliminated and left the show in tears, but she had no idea that the appetizer she came up with lit a light bulb in my brain. :-)
Ingredients
- 30 pcs whole champignons (Mine came in a 284g can from the nearby grocery); Pull out the stems.
- 45g grated cheese (cheddar, fresh parmesan, or Quickmelt will work best, but it’s up to you. Be creative!)
- 1 slice of bread, whole wheat, shredded into crumbs (You can substitute this with store-bought bread crumbs, but I prefer using fresh bread)
- 3 cloves minced garlic, sautéed* in a little butter in low-heat
- 1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped
- Ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp butter (and nothing more! Remember, 5 seconds on the lips, forever on the hips!)
* For this experiment, I actually mixed in the garlic RAW. One thing I realized too late is that I should have sautéed the garlic first as it wouldn’t get cook well anymore once stuffed inside the mushroom.
Here's how to make it:
1.) Melt butter in a pan. Turn off heat once butter has melted. Pour into a small bowl. Leave the pan, still slightly greased, on the stove.
2.) The stuffing: Get 2 tbsp of melted butter and, in a medium-sized bowl, mix with the bread, egg, garlic, and cheese. Blend ingredients using a wooden spoon. Set aside.
3.) Arrange the champignons, top-up, inside the pan. Cook in low heat for 4 minutes or until slightly brown. Do not stir.
4.) Using a wooden spoon, transfer the champignons in a bowl and wait for them to cool. But if you’re impatient like me, proceed to #5
5.) Use a teaspoon to put the stuffing into the hollow part of each of the champignons. Once done, arrange them inside the same pan (add 1 tbsp melted butter to re-grease slightly) stuffed-side up. Cook in low heat for 5-6 minutes or until brown. Do not stir.
6.) Transfer cooked champignons on a plate lined with wax paper to get rid of the extra butter. Let sit for a few minutes.
7.) Transfer to a serving plate. Arrange as desired. (In my case, I arranged them like a snowflake.) TA-DAAAHHH!!!
Things I found out while working on this kitchen experiment:
1.) Champignons are pretty sturdy, so pulling the stems out wouldn’t deform them. The stems will come off easily.
2.) Use a kettle when boiling eggs. They work well as egg-timers, and the water boils faster (or so I think. Is it because of the material they are made of?)
3.) If in doubt about your egg-boiling ability, boil two eggs. If it happens that you have prematurely cooked them, you still have one egg to re-cook and you only need one for this recipe
4.) Use wax paper to the chopping board when chopping a hard-boiled egg. It will make the task less messy, and it is very convenient when transferring the chopped egg into a bowl.
5.) When using black pepper, never shake it directly from its container and into the food. Always measure only how much you need and use your hand to put it in.
Cooking this recipe was fun and easy! The combination of the flavors of cheese, garlic, and butter is definitely wicked! I ate a “forgivable” amount and put the rest in 2 small containers. My roommate Tracy (one of the most imaginative artists I know—she even turned our kitchen countertop into a beautiful, functional work of art—and my ever-willing taste-tester) is taking one to her office for tomorrow’s lunch. Of course, the recipe is really for the purpose of hors d’oeuvres and best served with cocktails, but you may eat and enjoy it in any way you want. I am reminded of those Greenwich Ricemelts that I loved when I was still in college.
Well, I gotta go now. I’m currently reading three books for my Nobel Prize for Literature Project and am hoping to hit my target of four books this month. I devoured Neil Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book” as I did those stuffed mushrooms. One down, two and a half to go.
Sigh. Who am I kidding? I'm sooo sleepy, I'm going to bed now. Zzzzzzzzz....
(p.s. I must mention that the recipe above was cooked with “So Unsexy” by Alanis Morissette playing. IN MY HEAD. OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I guess that’s what you’ll get if you eat too much of it. Haha)
See you next time!
