I love the In the Bag Food Blogging event hosted by the lovely Julia at A Slice of Cherry Pie and Scott from Real Epicurian and I’m so pleased it’s back up and running. It gives me a bit of a challenge to work with and I love to see what everyone else has done with the ingredients. For the month of September the ingredients in the bag were mushrooms, herbs and nuts, which had me initially thinking of Christmas and the awful nut loaves they used to serve the vegetarians at my school. I was quick to push that unpleasant thought away. There are still beautiful chives around in the market and I read recently about a lemon and chive pesto- but being that my memory is void of the ability to retain useful information I cannot even for a slice of chocolate cake tell you where it was. So that’s the herbs and the nuts, just the mushroom to deal with now.
I’ve been wanting to do a take on an old recipe of my mothers. Again, I have absolutely no idea where she got it from but I would bet on it being from an old Good Housekeeping cookbook. Aside from smoked salmon on brown bread, with lemon juice and sometimes with butter (if she remembers) my mother’s Boursin stuffed mushrooms are her go-to party nibbles. We used to go crazy for these when mum and dad had people over for drinks parties. Plain old mushrooms are de-capped and stuffed with a mixture of garlic and herb Boursin cheese mixed with butter and are then roasted until they are bubbling and the mushrooms juicy and softened. They are slippery little buggers and must be eaten with a napkin or plate bought up to your mouth at the same time but they are worth the risk of a dry-cleaners bill every time.
I wanted to do something a tad more sophisticated- something a bit heartier, whilst still being light enough to serve as lunch with a crisp salad. You’ll probably want to follow them up with dessert- one certainly wasn’t enough for me but that might have something to do with this. I used Portobello mushrooms, which I find meatier and more flavorful than white mushrooms and I pre-roasted them before stuffing them with fresh ricotta that I lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and some chives. After 10 minutes in the oven I plopped the ricotta mixture on the top, there’s no need to spread it out because it will do that all on it’s own. Once they come out of the oven top them with some of the chive and lemon pesto and serve with a mixed leaf salad (one with a spicy mustard dressing to cut through the creaminess would be good). I’m sure you could use reduced-fat ricotta but I would stay away from the fat free stuff which is rubbery and not worth it. I also think these would be lovely using chestnut (cremini) mushrooms as little party-nibbles.
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Roasted portobello mushrooms with fresh ricotta & chive pesto
If you make these using chestnut mushrooms stuff them before they go into the oven, and don’t overfill as the cheese will melt! Also these are definitely something that you need to eat right away but leftovers shouldn’t be a problem.
Serves 1-2 with leftover pesto
2 portobello mushrooms, stems removed
for the pesto
1/2 cup chopped chives
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
1/2 lemon, zest & juice
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
35g/ 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
15g/3 Tbsp finely grated parmesan reggiano
salt and pepper to taste
for the ricotta
120g/ 1/2 cup fresh whole milk ricotta
2 Tbsp finely chopped chives
10g/2 Tbsp finely grated parmesan reggiano
drizzle olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
• Heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place the mushrooms gill-side up on a baking tray and drizzle with a little oil. Place in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile get on with the pesto.
• In a mini food processor place all of the ingredients and pulse until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper
• In a small bowl mix together all of the ricotta ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Once the mushrooms have cooked for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and top with the ricotta mixture. There is no need to spread it around, it will do this as it heats up. Pop back into the oven for another 5 minutes, just to warm through. Remove and top with a dollop of pesto to serve.
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