New Recipe #23: Spinach-artichoke stuffed portobellos

For this week’s Whip It Up theme of vegetarian dishes, I went for my go-to meat substitute: mushrooms. I have always loved mushrooms, and it is a point of pride for me that I have converted JG to my side since we got married. When you live in the Mushroom Capital of the World, it’s downright shameful to not love the charming little fungi, and I think JG and I pull our weight for per capita consumption. After last night’s yummy dinner of spinach-artichoke stuffed portobellos, courtesy of Rachael Ray, it’s fair to say that our faithful mushroom love has only increased.

Method
I am a huge fan of Rachael Ray. I used to think she was really appealing in that girl-next-door, not-insanely-skinny, accessible way, but I then was bombarded by catch phrases! Crazy hand gestures! A talk show! A magazine! Oh, Rachael, you are too much for me. JG takes umbrage with the unreasonable premise that her meals will take thirty minutes to prepare, but I choose to wave that aside because I imagine that the recipes would take me that long if I were a really fast chopper, all of my vegetables were rinsed and prepped, and I didn’t mind dirtying up half a dozen pots and pans. So, you know, that time estimate is kind of valid.

Ultimately, I like to think that Rachael has helped to encourage more people to cook at home, and for that, I give her a big thumbs up. This stuffed portobello mushroom recipe is a great example of a simple preparation that looks a lot more labor-intensive. If I hadn’t been so terribly inefficient, I may have had this supper on the table in less than half an hour! Instead, I futzed around with my asparagus side dish, dawdled while cleaning the mushrooms, and did not use my time well, generally. I chose to roast the mushrooms instead of grilling them, and the process was very easy to follow. I halved the recipe so that JG and I would each have two mushroom caps for dinner, and I guessed that they would not heat up so well after the fact.

Taste
JG and I each polished off two portobellos with astonishing speed, even with a tasty side dish of roasted asparagus. The meal is light, but filling, even for two carnivores. As far as taste goes, I love mushrooms, so I loved this dish, which is basically a light spinach-artichoke dip slathered on a giant mushroom. Anti-mushroom folks (boo!) will probably not like this dish because there is no hiding the mushroom-y goodness. Could I say “mushroom” any more? Mushroom!

Repeat appearance
Once I made the appropriate notes on the recipe for future iterations, that printout went straight into its half of a clear plastic sleeve for certain repetition. Next time, I’ll try adding about a quarter cup of bread crumbs to the filling (for a half batch) to help hold it together a little more. I suspect that the portobellos would benefit from a longer initial roast, because our finished mushrooms were slightly soupy. Instead of roasting them for 5-6 minutes, I’d increase that to 8-10 minutes. I may try out additional ingredients for the stuffing, like roasted red peppers or sun-dried tomatoes. I definitely recommend this dish: all of the ingredients are easy to come by, it comes together really quickly, and it’s a relatively low-fat meal. The only down side for us is that this meal wouldn’t produce good leftovers, so it’s not completely ideal for a staple dinner, but it would be a great lunch on the weekend.

Spinach-Artichoke Stuffed Portobellos
From 30-Minute Meals

• 8 portabello mushroom caps
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing mushrooms, plus 1/4 cup
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained well
• 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 clove garlic, grated with microplane or small side box grater
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated nutmeg, about 1/8 teaspoon
• 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, a couple of handfuls

1. Preheat grill to medium-high and oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Using a damp towel, brush mushroom caps to clean. Using a pastry brush, coat the caps with extra-virgin olive oil and grill with lid down or roast about 5 to 6 minutes, turning once, until tender but still firm at center.

3. Wring the spinach out in a clean kitchen towel. Separate the spinach with your fingers and combine with artichokes, ricotta cheese, egg yolk, grated garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and nutmeg.

4. Remove mushroom caps from grill.

5. To portion-control the filling, divided the stuffing into 4 parts then just split each of those evenly between 2 caps. Sprinkle the caps with Parmigiano and cook 5 to 6 minutes more in the preheated oven to set filling and lightly brown tops.