With cooking there are hits and there are misses. Unfortunately this dish ended up squarely in the misses category.
Every month or two I log onto Epicurious and go through the recipes from the most recent issues of Bon Appetit and Gourmet and e-mail myself the ones I’d like to try at some point. I was immediately drawn to this recipe for stuffed portobellos. I LOVE stuffed mushrooms and of course love spinach and goat cheese so I totally thought this one would be a winner.
This whole endeavour was doomed from the start. As usual I forgot to read the directions for the recipe beforehand. I figured there was probably some prep that I could do beforehand to make meal-time simpler but I opted out. So of course when I did read the recipe I was surprised to find out that the mushrooms had to marinate for 4 hours! Yes, 4 hours! Needless to say this 4 hour marination was NOT happening at 8:30PM which was the time I settled down to make this dish. Fine, so Thursday night was a write-off that ended with pasta with butter and a Whopper from Burger King (not one of my finer moments).
So Friday I decided to be on top of it. I got up before work and made the marinade and had my mom put the mushrooms in the marinade before she left for work at noon. Now I knew I wouldn’t be home until at least 6PM, meaning the mushrooms would marinate for 6 hours. I figured that would be OK but not ideal. But I really couldn’t figure out how to make these on a weekday with over- or under-marinating the buggers. I didn’t think it would be SUCH a big deal. I mean, the recipe just says marinate for 4 hours in the fridge. It doesn’t say “or overnight” or “no more than 4 hours” nothing. Just 4 hours.
While eating the final dish I could NOT get past the overpowering taste of marinated mushrooms. They were too salty, too vinegary, too garlicky… too EVERYTHING! The filling itself was good enough but the mushrooms really took away from the spinach and goat cheese flavouring. I would maybe try stuffing the mushrooms without marinating them first.
Interestingly enough the recipe has a 3 1/2 fork rating on Epicurious (out of 4). Granted only two people have review.
Rating: 2 1/2 (out of 5)
Ingredients
Marinated mushrooms
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup Marsala (optional)
4 large fresh thyme sprigs
6 large portobello mushrooms
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup Marsala (optional)
4 large fresh thyme sprigs
6 large portobello mushrooms
Filling:
1 10-ounce package frozen spinach
1 pound button mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped sweet onion (such as Maui or Vidalia)
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup unseasoned dry breadcrumbs
1 5-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
For marinated mushrooms:
Whisk first 6 ingredients and Marsala, if desired, in medium bowl for marinade. Stir in thyme sprigs. Cut stems from mushrooms and place stems in processor. Arrange mushrooms, gill side up, in 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. Pour marinade over mushrooms and marinate 4 hours, turning to coat occasionally.
Whisk first 6 ingredients and Marsala, if desired, in medium bowl for marinade. Stir in thyme sprigs. Cut stems from mushrooms and place stems in processor. Arrange mushrooms, gill side up, in 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. Pour marinade over mushrooms and marinate 4 hours, turning to coat occasionally.
For filling:
Cook spinach according to package directions. Drain; cool. Using hands, squeeze excess water from spinach.Place in small bowl.
Add half of button mushrooms to processor with portobello mushroom stems.Using on/off turns, process until coarsely chopped. Transfer to medium bowl and repeat with remaining mushrooms. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat.Add onion; sauté until beginning to brown,stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add chopped mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and increase heat to high. Cook until almost all liquid evaporates, stirring often, about 8minutes. Season mushroom mixture with salt and pepper. Transfer to large bowl;cool to room temperature.
Add spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and breadcrumbs to mushroom mixture; toss to distribute evenly. Add goat cheese and toss gently to distribute evenly. Season filling to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover filling and let stand at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Transfer marinated mushrooms, with some marinade still clinging, to rimmed baking sheet, gill side down. Roast until beginning to soften, about 15 minutes.Turn mushrooms over. Divide filling among mushrooms. Sprinkle remaining 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese over and bake until heated through and cheese begins to brown, about 15 minutes.
(From Bon Appetit – January 2009)
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“Fine, so Thursday night was a write-off that ended with pasta with butter and a Whopper from Burger King (not one of my finer moments).” — This is why I love your blog! Hillarious and totally honest. We’ve all been there!
I really love goat cheese desserts, their are awesome. If I have guests, I just make goat cheese deserts and they love it. Are there any other good uses for goat cheese?