Stuffed Mushrooms

The other week we were on holiday. We decided to split our break in two, the first two nights in a fab four star hotel with spa, half board, all the pampering and then follow it up with the rest of the week in a self-catering house nearer the beach. We were looking forward to the hotel and the first thing we did when we arrived was go to the spa. and again the next day and again just before we left… We certainly got our money’s worth. The other thing we were looking forward to was the food in the four star hotel. I’d already warned them I was a vegetarian, which they said was no problem, so there we were imagining four star gourmet meals. All I can say is what a disappointment. The food was prepackaged, reheated and it tasted like it had all come out of a tin. Even the Spanish omlette was from a packet, really, in Spain there’s no excuse for that! So, in the end I couldn’t wait to get to my little self-catering cottage and cook something decent for myself! And this is what I cooked for our first lunch.

Mushrooms stuffed with bean salad. Success. Simple, light and delicious. I was lucky enough to find giant mushrooms on sale at the local supermarket (Where I live I can’t get them). The were labelled as “breakfast mushrooms” but we had them for lunch 😉 If you can’t find large mushrooms then you can use small ones too, you’ll just need more. I used flageolet beans but if you can’t get those where you are any white beans will work just fine.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Preparation:    25 minutes + marinading time                            Servings: 4 servings           Cooking Time: 15 minutes                                                                                                           Total:                  40 minutes

Ingredients:

8 large mushrooms

1 clove garlic

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 pinches of salt

1 tin flageolet beans (Or any other bean you fancy)

1 onion

10 green beans

1/2 courgette

6 cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

Wash and dry the mushrooms. Finely chop a clove of garlic and mix with 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Add a pinch of salt. Break the stems off the mushrooms and set them aside. Put the garlic mis in a flat bowl, add the mushrooms. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight. In the morning turn the mushrooms over. Chop the onion, green beans, courgette and mushrooms stalks very finely and saute in 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil with a pinch of salt. Meanwhile, drain and rinse the canned beans and finely chop the cherry tomatoes. Place the beans and tomatoes in a bowl. When the sauteed vegetables are soft, set aside 5 minutes to cool a little the add to the salad. Take the marinaded mushrooms and grill without adding extra oil until cooked to the centre.  Dress the salad with vinegar and 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Taste to see if you need to adjust seasoning and spoon into mushrooms.