Artichoke and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

My all time FAVORITE food is a mushroom.  I know a lot of you are probably like “ewwww, gross, fungus”, but NO you are wrong.  Mushrooms are a gift from the gods and for those of you who are mushroom fans, this is a recipe that you will be sure to love.  Another food that takes a close second to mushrooms, are artichokes.  Who doesn’t love a delicious cheesy artichoke dip?  This recipe basically takes mushroom caps and stuffs them with a cheesy artichoke mixture and then bakes them to perfection.  Although it may seem complicated, this recipe requires hardly any ingredients and steps to prepare.  Before you know it, you’ll be pulling these guys out of the oven and popping ’em into your mouth.  Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 24 large white mushrooms
• 1/4 cup olive oil, for drizzling
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cans sliced or quartered artichoke hearts
• 2 cloves minced garlic (or about 1 tsp jarred minced garlic)
• Pinch dried thyme
• Handful grated Parmesan
• Handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tub shredded Asiago cheese, 8 ounces (or shredded mozzarella)

Directions:

First start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees.  You’re going to want to brush the dirt off of the mushrooms.  You can do this simply by taking a damp paper towel and gently wiping them off.  After they are cleaned, carefully pop the stems out of each cap, creating a cavity that will hold your artichoke mixture.  Place the caps in a large bowl and drizzle in your olive oil to evenly coat the mushrooms, and then scatter them round-side-up onto a cookie sheet.  Roast these guys for about 10 minutes.  After you pull them out, season the caps with salt and pepper and flip over.  Place the pan aside while you prepare the stuffing.

Drain your cans of artichokes and then chop them into smaller pieces to make them easier to eat and easier to fit into the caps.  Using the same bowl as before, toss the artichokes with a drizzle of olive oil, garlic, thyme, grated Parmesan cheese, and parsley.  One the mixture is evenly incorporated, generously fill the mushroom caps, mounding the filling up.  Top the artichoke mixtures with the shredded Asiago/mozzarella cheese.  Return the pan to the oven and cook the mushrooms for another 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the filling has set.  As soon as they look beautiful and gooey, pull them out and set aside to cool only for a minute or so.  Once they reach the temperature where they won’t burn your tongue off, they are all set and ready to eat.

These stuffed mushrooms are such a wonderful appetizer for any meal, party, holiday, etc.  It helps that they are also extremely easy to make.  Even if you aren’t a huge mushroom fan, I highly suggest giving them a shot.  Another great thing about these little guys, is that they heat up incredibly!  I know that the idea of re-heating a stuffed mushroom sounds a bit odd, but trust me.. if you have any leftovers, just throw them on a pan and bake them in the oven for about 5 minutes at 400 degrees or even simply throw them in the microwave for about 2 minutes.  Either way comes out equally delicious.   This recipe has always proven to be a crowd favorite for me and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Gather ingredients

Clean mushroom caps

Roast caps

Chop artichokes

Mince garlic

Add artichokes, olive oil, grated cheese, garlic, thyme, and parsley to bowl

Mix ingredients together

Stuff mushroom caps

Mound the filling

Top with shredded cheese

Bake until cheese is melted

Enjoy!