3607. STUFFED MUSHROOMS with BACON and ALMONDS

16–18 button mushrooms
3 pieces of bacon, cooked and diced
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
a handful of raw, blanched almonds
10-15 black peppercorns
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons grass-fed butter

Take the buttons off the mushrooms and set them aside. Clean out the mushrooms and rinse them in water to remove any dirt. Set upside-down on a paper towel to drain.

Wash the stems and with a knife, chop into small pieces. Set aside.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter in the olive oil and cook the onion until translucent.

Add the garlic and mushroom stem pieces. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, to release any liquid in them.

Add the back rasher pieces and cumin and stir well. Cook about 1 minute and remove from heat.

Place the mushroom caps with the open-side up in an ovenproof dish.

Fill with the bacon-onion mixture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In the same saucepan, add a drizzle of olive oil and over low heat, brown the almonds, stirring constantly. Be careful not to burn them, as they will turn sour. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Pour the almonds and oil into a mortar with the peppercorns. Ground with the pestle into coarse pieces.

Spoon the almonds-ground peppercorn mixture over the filled mushroom caps.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes and serve immediately.


bacon recipe source: Debra Dorn, The Saffron Girl (@TheSaffronGirl), August 5, 2013