STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Went to a great family wedding in NJ and had a blast.  Haven't laughed that hard in a long time.  One of the best things about a Jersey wedding is the cocktail hour.  I ate so much then that I wasn't hungry for the main course.  My idea of a perfect wedding is a really long cocktail hour(s) then straight to dessert.  They had passed crab cakes, mini grilled cheese sandwiches and shooters of tomato soup, perogies, and of course STUFFED MUSHROOMS.  Then you could go to the "mexican" table for fajitas. The seafood table, which I went around several times had shrimp cocktail, oysters, tuna sashimi, and clams oreganato.  Move onto to the "Italian" table for cold cuts, cheeses, fresh mozzarella, and my favorite eggplant rollantine.  Are you following me on this - we are talking massive amounts of fantastic food.  There was another table with fruits and breads which I was about to ignore but saw that they tucked in the swedish meatballs over there - oh yea I found them!

This is time consuming but guests always love stuffed mushrooms.  

SAUSAGE-STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Makes up to 50 stuffed mushrooms

2-4 boxes mushrooms - 10 oz. each (depends on size of mushrooms)

2 Italian sausages (I use chicken)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion (finely chopped)

1 stalk celery (finely chopped)

1/2 red pepper (finely chopped)

1 clove garlic (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs (I like Progresso)

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

1-2 eggs (lightly beaten)

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Set oven at 400 degrees.

Clean and de-stem mushrooms.

Place upside down on baking sheet with a rim (so that the hollow side is down).

Bake for 10 minutes to release juice.

Meanwhile, squeeze sausage out of casing into your pan and sauté until cooked.

Break up sausages as they cook - place in a bowl with a paper towel to absorb fat.

Wipe out sauté pan and add olive oil.

Sauté onions, celery and red pepper.

Cook until soft - approximately 4 minutes.

Add garlic and thyme and cook another 1 minute.

Remove mixture from heat and add breadcrumbs, cheese, egg, salt and pepper.

Stuffing should me moist - if dry do 2 eggs.

Add sausage to this mixture and blend well.

Take mushrooms out of baking sheet and pour out juices.

Return mushrooms to pan turned over (so that the hollow side is up).

Divide stuffing mixture into mushrooms.

Bake 15 minutes.

Visited the house I grew up in.  Was nice to see the front oak tree was still living.  The roots were massive like the amounts of food at the wedding!