A stuffed mushroom recipe is an appetizer with roots in the 1980s. Whoever thought that filled mushrooms with cheese and spinach really knew what they were doing.
Golden Figs bring a tangy, delicately nutty and sweet taste, whereas Mission Figs bring more of a familiar fruity fig flavor. Both kinds work beautifully with the mushrooms, though we are partial to Mission here.
Tips for Cooking Filled Mushrooms
For the stuffed mushrooms recipe, you will be using all of the mushrooms. The caps and stems get tossed with oil and roasted in the oven together. Once they are completely cooked—the mushroom liquid evaporated and the caps and stems brown all over, remove the stems from the roasting dish.
Prep the Stuffed Mushroom Filling
Fry the bacon in a large skillet, transferring the strips, when cooked to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. In a tablespoon of bacon drippings cook onion until soft and then add in the garlic to cook until aromatic. To this, you will add in the spinach, cooking it until wilted. You’ll transfer the mixture to a bowl to cool.
Then, you’ll transfer the spinach mixture to a food processor, adding in bread crumbs, ricotta, blue cheese, and mushroom stems to process until it resembles a chunky puree. To this, you will stir in bacon crumbles.
Assemble
Each mushroom cap gets a hearty spoonful of filling. Then, top with half of a fig and a crumble of blue cheese. They then get a quick roast in a very hot oven until the cheese is melted the filling is heated. Serve the mushrooms warm.
Mushrooms Stuffed with California Fig, Bacon, Spinach and Blue Cheese
Ingredients
Roasted Mushroom Caps
- 24 mushrooms stems and caps separated and washed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and ground black pepper
Filling
- 6 ounces bacon cut crosswise into 1/4" strips
- 1/2 red onion medium, minced
- 1 clove garlic large, minced
- 6 ounces spinach stems removed, washed thoroughlt and chopped coarse
- 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
- 3 tbsp ricotta cheese
- 2 ounces blue cheese crumbled
- 12 Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Figs stemmed and halved
- salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Toss mushroom caps and stems, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste in medium bowl. Arrange caps, gill side down, in a single layer on a large low-sided roasting pan or jelly-roll pan with stems placed alongside. Roast until mushrooms have released some juice and are brown around edges facing the pan, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and turn caps over with a metal spatula. Continue to roast until mushroom liquid has completely evaporated and mushroom caps and stems are brown all over, about 5 to 10 minutes longer.
- Once roasting pan is removed, readjust oven rack to center position and leave oven temperature at 450 degrees. Leave the cooked mushroom caps on roasting pan, but remove cooked stems and set aside.
- Meanwhile, fry bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels; discard all but 1 tablespoon of drippings. Add onion; cook until soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic; cook about 1 minute longer. Add spinach; cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Transfer spinach mixture to large bowl; let cool for 10 minutes.
- Transfer spinach mixture to food processor, along with bread crumbs, ricotta, one ounce blue cheese, and roasted mushroom stems; process to a chunky puree, scraping down the sides of the processor at least once to ensure an even texture. Return spinach mixture to large mixing bowl; stir in bacon bits. Fill each mushroom cap with a heaping teaspoon of filling; top each with a fig half and a portion of remaining blue cheese.
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Roast stuffed mushrooms until cheese is melted and filling is hot throughout, about 8 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
Valley Fig Growers is a proud sponsor of Cook’s Country TV.
