Ingredients:
½ lb. ground pork
20-24 baby bella or crimini mushrooms
½ small onion chopped or 2 shallots
Olive oil (small amount to saute onions and some to put under mushrooms)
approx ½ tsp. finely chopped fresh sage (can use dried use a little less)
approx ¼ tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme (can use dried use a little less)
2-3 fresh garlic cloves minced
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
¼ tsp. ground anise or fennel seed
½ tsp. italian seasoning
1 tsp. dried onion
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp paprika
½ cup cooked quinoa
⅛ cup cornmeal
1 egg white
Directions:
Rinse mushrooms, remove stems and scrape edges on inside of mushroom cap. Place mushrooms on paper towel to dry.
Place pork and all seasonings in a bowl and mix well. I like to use my hands to make sure the spices get worked into the meat well.
Saute onions and olive oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes then add meat and seasoning mixture. Once the meat is cooked approx 8 to 10 minutes over medium heat. Remove from heat add quinoa and corn meal.
I like to then let it sit and cool a few minutes before I add the egg white.
While meat mixture is cooling put small amount of olive oil on bottom of glass dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Add egg white to meat mixture and mix in with your hands if cool enough in order to incorporate into the meat mixture. Take a small ball of mixture and place into mushroom caps and put in greased glass dish.
Bake at 375 for approx 15 to 20 minutes depending on size of mushrooms. Meat mixture should start to brown on top and mushrooms cooked through. To check take out a mushroom and cut in half if still white in middle give it a few more minutes.
Remove from oven and serve, garnish tray with fresh sage leaves. This makes a great appetizer or can even be your main dish.
Notes:
To make this recipe quicker and easier you can always start with Italian or even spicy pork sausage for a little kick instead of adding all your own seasonings to the pork. If you can’t find bulk ground pork sausage you can always remove from casing and use as bulk sausage.
Optional add in:
add parmesan cheese to meat mixture before you add the egg to give it a cheesy texture and flavor
