Stuffed Mushrooms with Sausage

Last Christmas eve in 2011, while spending some good old-fashioned Kravitz family time in Chicago, IL, my relatives and I had a big feast which included these amazing bite sized stuffed mushrooms. The best part is that they tasted just like a sausage pizza. An entire pizza built into 1 mushroom! Cooking this with the family was easy and fun, an everyone helped out a little. Oh, and by the way, they were GONE by the end of the evening :). Delicious.

Recipe:

1 cup grated Parmesan (add more of course if you like)

About 25 button mushrooms

4 Italian sausages, casings cut off

1-2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 - 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon garlic

1 80z package cream cheese

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup dry white wine

Olive oil (extra virgin or regular-your choice)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Saute your sausage and oregano in a large skillet until sausage is browned and thoroughly cooked.

2. Break up the sausage into very small pieces and transfer into a large bowl (which you will use to mix the other ingredients with)

3. Mix in 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, the Worcestershire sauce, the garlic (chopped) and cream cheese as well as the egg yolk and a little salt and pepper.

4. Brush a baking dish with olive oil (can use glass, ceramic or even a baking sheet)

5. Next, pour the white wine into a small bowl and dip each mushroom cap into the wine.

6. Fill each mushroom cap with some of the sausage filling

7. Top each filled cap with some more Parmesan cheese

8. Place the filled mushrooms on the baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes OR until mushrooms are soft and browned.

These stuffed mushrooms are memorable and make fantastic hors d'oeuvres. Personally, I like these for the holidays or when you are having a cozy get together. A comfort food in bite size form!

I didn't have a picture of the exact mushrooms that I made at Christmas. HOWEVER, I borrowed a photo from the Pioneer Woman and Pepper Lynn who actually made similar recipes (I give full acknowledgement and credit to the Pioneer Woman and Pepper Lynn for photos). This recipe is courtesy of The Chopping Block, a cooking school in Chicago :)