For this appetizer, large Bella mushrooms are stuffed with a mixture of roasted garlic, caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts, fresh herbs, and roasted in the oven until the mushrooms are cooked, but still holding their shape. This recipe can be served hot, or at room temperature.
The recipe can easily be scaled up if you are trying to feed a large group.
Stuffed Bella Mushrooms with Roasted Garlic, Basil, and Mint
For this appetizer, large Bella mushrooms are stuffed with a mixture of roasted garlic, caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts, fresh herbs, and roasted in the oven until the mushrooms are cooked, but still holding their shape. This recipe can be served hot, or at room temperature. The recipe can easily be scaled up if you are trying to feed a large group.
Ingredients
- 2 heads of garlic, unpeeled and whole
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp salted butter
- ½ of a large white onion, or 1 small white onion, sliced 1/8” thick
- 16 large-sized Bella mushrooms
- ½ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
- 16 basil leaves, finely sliced
- 8 mint leaves, finely sliced
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
- Juice from ¼ of a lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- While keeping the heads of garlic intact with their skins on, cut off the top section of each head of garlic, exposing the garlic inside.
- *When you cut the top off the whole head of garlic, you are effectively cutting off roughly 10% off the top of each individual clove of garlic, while leaving the remaining head of garlic intact.
- Drizzle the olive oil onto the exposed garlic cloves, and tightly wrap the heads of garlic individually in aluminum foil.
- *You can bake the garlic heads on a sheet tray if you are worried about the olive oil leaking out of the aluminum foil.
- Bake at 350F for about 35-40 minutes, or until the garlic cloves are cooked and just beginning to take on a light golden color.
- Remove the garlic from the oven, and allow to cool at room temperature while you prepare the mushrooms and filling.
- Increase the oven temperature to 425F.
- For the mushrooms, clean them nicely under cold water and rub off any dirt.
- Separate the stems of the mushrooms from the caps, and drain the mushroom caps on paper towels.
- Add 2 Tbsp salted butter to the saute pan, along with the sliced white onion.
- Cook onions over medium heat for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly caramelized.
- *You can add a spoonful or two of hot water to the saute pan as the onions are cooking if they start to take on too much color or start to cook unevenly. This will help to ensure that your caramelized onions have a more consistent golden color.
- Once the onions have cooked, remove them from the heat and set them aside.
- Lightly toast your ½ cup of pine nuts and place them in a mixing bowl.
- Add the cooked onions from earlier.
- Squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves from their skins, and place the roasted garlic in the mixing bowl with the onions and pine nuts.
- Add half of the finely-sliced basil and mint.
- Add the 3 Tbsp of olive oil, and stir to combine.
- Taste the filling mixture, and season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
- Stuff the mushroom caps with the mushroom filling, leaving a little mound of filling on top of each mushroom.
- Arrange the stuffed mushrooms on parchment paper on a sheet tray, and bake in the 425F oven for roughly 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked through but before they are falling apart.
- Remove the mushrooms from the oven, and drizzle some lemon juice over the top, along with the remaining fresh basil and mint.
- Serve hot, or at room temperature.
Notes
You can use whatever large-sized whole mushrooms you like for this recipe.
If you want to bulk-up your stuffed mushroom filling (and use the leftovers to serve on top of cooked chicken), chop up and cook the mushroom stems with the caramelized onions. Additionally, you can add whatever you have in your fridge that sounds tasty.
You can use whatever nuts you like here--pine nuts are expensive but so delicious!