Bacon and Bleu Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients
4 slices thick cut bacon (preferred hickory smoked)
1 pound whole white button mushrooms, large in size
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, small dice
2 small garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Lay the bacon on a foil lined, rimmed sheet pan. Bake in the oven until the bacon gets crispy but still has a little bend when lifted, about 12-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, clean the mushrooms by using a lightly dampened paper towel. Brush the each mushroom cap to remove any remaining dirt.
Carefully remove the mushroom stems from the caps. (You can watch me do this here.) Set the stems aside in a bowl. We will be using them!
Lay the mushroom caps gill-side down onto an unlined, rimmed sheet pan. Bake them in the 400 degree oven (it’s ok to bake with the bacon in the oven at the same time) until little pools of water make a circle around each mushroom, about 12-15 minutes.
Using a mini food processor, pulse the mushroom stems until they are finely diced. Make sure to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl if the larger mushrooms aren’t moving to the blade to get chopped. You want a somewhat even dice in the end. If you don’t have a mini food processor you can use a knife and finely dice them.
In a large non-stick pan (I love my Scanpan), over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add the onions and mushroom stems to the pan and sauté until they are softened, about 5-7 minutes.
Once the mixture is softened add 2 minced garlic cloves and 1/4 teaspoon of both salt and pepper. Stir until the garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Remove the mixture from the sauté pan into a large bowl. Let it cool for 5 minutes.
Chop the cooked bacon into small pieces. Add the bacon to the onion/mushroom mixture.
Add 1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles to the onion/mushroom mixture. Stir to combine all the ingredients together.
Carefully flip the partially cooked mushrooms over on the sheet pan so the mushroom cap is now on the bottom and the gill side faces up.
Spoon the onion/mushroom mixture into the stem holes in each mushroom. Keep the filling proportionate to the mushroom size.
Return the sheet pan with the mushrooms to the 400 degree oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
Serve the mushrooms warm!
