This is an easy week night meal! What’s great about these stuffed portobello mushrooms is the sun-dried tomato pesto, it makes the mushroom very juicy and adds a delicious flavour. These are super easy to make and work well as a side dish or as a veggie main.
Personally I eat them as a main meal as they are quite cheesy and our body takes quite a long time to digest the mushrooms (up to 12 hours!). I wouldn’t recommend having them on the side of meat, as it would be quite a heavy meal. They go well with a light fresh green salad on the side!
The so called “large flat mushrooms” or Portobello mushrooms that are available in our supermarkets are perfect for this recipe as they are very large and meaty. The wider the mushroom, the more pesto and mozzarella you will be able to add. Those on the picture are not that big actually but they were good too, just not that much space for stuffing.
While in the oven, the mushrooms will release their juice and they will cook in it, some mushrooms might not release that much but that depends on the type of mushrooms you buy. It’s a cheesy mushroom mess :)
When choosing your pesto, it might be difficult to find one that doesn’t contain refined sunflower oil or preservatives. This is why when possible I try to order online. Biona has a great organic pesto that uses extra virgin olive oil instead of sunflower oil and has no artificial additives – Biona Organic Red Pesto. Mr Organic is another brand that has lovely organic pesto without any preservatives. Unfortunately none of them are available in the popular supermarkets but you will be able to find them in Whole Foods market.
These stuffed portobello mushrooms are not only delicious but they are a very budget-friendly meal as well!
Ingredients
- 4 large flat mushrooms (Portobello)
- 1/2 mozzarella
- grated Cheddar or Parmesan
- 160g Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto (1 small jar)
- fresh basil
- 5-6 cherry tomatoes
Instructions
- Oil a baking dish with your favourite cooking oil and place the mushrooms in it.
- With a tea spoon start filling the mushrooms with pesto, 2-3 teaspoons per mushroom depending on the size.
- Add the chopped fresh basil.
- Slice the mozzarella and place the slices on top.
- Grate Cheddar or Parmesan cheese to cover the whole mushroom (optional, for some just the mozzarella may be enough)
- Add some fresh tomato slices on top.
- Bake in a preheated oven (200°) for about 20-25 minutes.