Stuffed Mushrooms Lisboa

Stuffed Mushrooms Lisboa

(c) Dorine Houston 2008, all rights reserved 

The medium-sized brown mushrooms were so fresh, smelling fragrantly earthy and looking so firm and round.  They begged for a place in my marketing basket.  Needless to say, they got some generous space.  Now what to do with them? 

With nearby Chester County the center of mushroom farming in the US (some sources say up to 90% of US commercial mushroom production takes place in Kennett Square), Philadelphia cooks have access to a variety of fresh mushrooms and make a variety of mushroom dishes.  Creating new ways to serve mushrooms is something of a local sport.  It should not surprise you that when I browse the Reading Terminal Market looking for culinary inspiration, it often comes in the form of mushrooms. 

These mushrooms seemed to call out to be stuffed.  But with what?  I continued perusing the market stalls. 

Martin’s has been hand-making beautiful sausage of all kinds for decades.  Some kinds are always available, such as sweet Italian sausage redolent of fennel seeds; other kinds put on their appearance in rotation with others.  Portuguese luganega leaped into my view from the glass-fronted case and I knew it wanted a place with the mushrooms. 

My friends made short work of the end product that I decided to name for the capital of Portugal in honor of the origin of the original recipe for luganega. 

Stuffed Mushrooms Lisboa

(c) Dorine Houston 2008

8 oz. medium size brown or white mushrooms 

1 link luganega sausage (about 3 oz.) 
1 medium clove garlic, minced 
1 cippolini onion, minced 
Small handful flat-leaf parsley, minced 

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Coat the bottom of a baking pan with olive oil.  Wipe mushrooms clean and remove stems.  Place caps upside-down in pan.  Mince stems. 

Remove casing from luganega sausage.  Chop sausage with a large chef’s knife, and then begin chopping in the remaining ingredients, including the mushroom stems, until the mixture is well blended.  The best technique is to chop, fold and turn the mixture and continue chopping with rapid, close strokes.  Divide the sausage mixture among the mushroom caps. 

Place the pan of mushrooms in the oven for 10 minutes.  Remove and let rest 5 minutes. 

Garnish a plate with sprigs of flat-leaf parsley and arrange the stuffed mushrooms on it.  Pour the juice that collected in the pan over them.  Serve hot with dry red wine as a tapa or appetizer.