Karl’s Tapas: Champiñones Rellenos de Cerdo y Piñones (Mushrooms Stuffed with Pork and Pine Nuts)

Adapted from a Penelope Casas recipe

I am making a Spanish tapas dinner for this Sunday. Jan picked this tapas out of one of my cookbooks. Although I did not follow the recipe, it had some techniques for the fillings that I found interesting.

Karl’s Tapas: Champiñones Rellenos de Cerdo y Piñones (Mushrooms Stuffed with Pork and Pine Nuts)

Usually when I make a meat stuffing, I thrown all of the ingredients into the meat and let them cook altogether. Penelope’s recipe called for sautéing most of the vegetable ingredients to develop their flavor through the Maillard reaction before being added to the raw meat.

Karl’s Tapas: Champiñones Rellenos de Cerdo y Piñones (Mushrooms Stuffed with Pork and Pine Nuts)

Ingredients

¾ lb. crimini mushrooms, brushed clean

2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
¼ cup yellow onion, minced
½ tsp. Kosher salt
¼ cup parsley stems, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. black pepper
¼ cup Semi-sweet Spanish sherry (Oloroso)

¼ lb. lean ground pork
¼ cup Panko (bread crumbs)
2 Tbs. pine nuts, rough chopped

Directions

1. Trim and separate the mushroom stems.

2. Chop the stems finely to make ¼ cup.

3. Brush the caps with olive oil.

4. Heat the butter in a medium pan and sauté the onion with the salt until just soft, about 3 minutes.

5. Stir in the parsley stems and continue cooking for two more minutes.

6. Pull the vegetables to the sides of the pan and add the garlic to the hole in the center.

7. Sauté the garlic until fragrant, about one minute.

8. Remove the pan from the heat and add the pepper and sherry.

9. Put the lamb, bread crumbs and pine nuts in a medium bowl.

Tip: The heat of the pan will reduce the sherry and the sherry will cool off the mixture quickly.

10. Pour the contents of the pan over the meat and mix it together thoroughly.

Tip: Use a spatula to scrape all the good bits out of the pan.

11. Let the meat mixture rest for 15-20 minutes to meld.

12. Put about one tablespoon of the meat mixture into the bowl of each mushroom cap.

Tip: At this point you may place the stuffed mushrooms “on hold” for 3-4 hours. Place them on a plate, cover them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you are ready to cook them..

13. Preheat the oven to 450° F.

Note: Many of the recipes I used had different cooking times and temperatures. I simplified the process by using the highest necessary temperature and then removing the smaller tapas as they finished cooking.

14. Roast the mushrooms for 10-15 minutes, until cooked through.

15. Arrange on a plate and serve warm.