I know that mushrooms can be very polarising, so if you just thought, “ew,” I see you. But, please give this a chance! Maybe you’ll surprise yourself and realise that you loved mushrooms this whole time, and just had yet to experience their greatness.

I’m sure you can fill mushrooms with anything that your heart desires, but this recipe is very Italian — it makes up 50 per cent of my heritage and 90 per cent of the recipes I know how to cook. I was a little unsure about which recipe I wanted to write about here, but I chose this recipe, over the often-more-desirable Pinterest concoctions, because of its familial ties. Around the holidays, we eat this all of the time. Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the occasional birthday request — not to mention the endless leftovers! As I’m writing this, I’m not exactly craving stuffed mushrooms because I maxed myself out, but I always yearn for them by the end of the semester when I need my fix of Italian breadcrumbs. Spoiler alert: Italian breadcrumbs are the best smell ever and make an appearance in many of my family’s recipes. 

As true with all of my favourite recipes, follow the steps how you see fit. If you hate garlic, maybe don’t add it, even though that would be treasonous. I tried my best with being as exact as possible, but please keep in mind that my mother’s directions for cooking often sound like, “add eight seconds of oil,” which is the least helpful direction known in this universe. At the end of the day, who really needs to measure?

Ingredients:

• 2 large packs of button mushrooms

• 1 jar of tomato sauce (for this recipe, I like Wegmans’ Grandpa’s Sauce which is flavored with sausage, sweet peppers, and wine)

• 2 cups of Italian breadcrumbs

• ⅓ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

• 2 tsp garlic powder or 4 garlic cloves, chopped finely

• ½ tsp onion powder or ¼ of an onion, chopped finely

• 2 tsp dried parsley

• Extra virgin olive oil 

• Freshly cracked black pepper

• Sea salt 

Directions:

1. Clean mushrooms and separate the stems from the caps. This is a very important step, and you don’t want to eat dirt (or COVID-19!). Also, preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs and olive oil, with just enough olive oil to create a thin layer. To know if you added enough, when you mix it together, the breadcrumbs should appear physically darker, but still fairly dry. Then, add the cheese, garlic, onion, parsley, and several shakes of black pepper. 

3. Take about half of the mushroom stems and chop them finely. Add those pieces to the bowl and stir well. 

4. Take out a large roasting pan and pour out enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add a few shakes of salt. Then, add the mushroom caps and the remaining stems so the caps are hole-side-up and the stems are standing in the gaps between mushrooms. 

5. Fill each mushroom cap with the breadcrumb mixture and pat it down tightly with the back of a spoon. After you’ve filled all of the mushrooms, pour any remaining filling over the top of the pan, sprinkling everything with the deliciousness. 

6. Cook the mushrooms for about 20 minutes in the oven before adding about a teaspoon of tomato sauce on each mushroom. Place them back in the oven for another 20 minutes. 

7. “Buon appetito!” — Ann Marie Slovin