I like a baked portobello mushroom. They are usually easy to make and give a good return on whatever investment of time or ingredients that you throw at them.
Often I will just deploy some breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs, and perhaps some cheese. Mix them all with some oil, salt and pepper, and put into the middle of the mushrooms and bake in a hot oven until crusty and delicious.
Today, we had some pastry left over from the creation of delicious and seasonal mince pies (It was Roll It Gluten Free shortcrust). Rather than just dump this excess, I had a think about how I might use it along with the mushrooms I had planned to use for dinner.
I gathered a few vegetables that we had in the house - a carrot, some celery, an onion, a clove of garlic, some small bell peppers, a hotter jalapeño, and the stalks from the mushrooms - and chopped them all finely in a food processor with some salt and some dried herbs.
This veg mix went into a medium hot frying pan to boil off some of the moisture. As it got dryer, I added some olive oil to fry the veg a little and add some flavour.
I baked the mushrooms in a 200C oven for 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes, with a little oil, salt and garlic powder.
I rolled out the small amount of pastry into a square and split that into 4 (I had 4 mushrooms!) and put these on a sheet of parchment. With each of these smaller rectangle I pushed up the edges to create a small lip.
I spooned out the veg mix evenly into each pastry and put one of the baked mushrooms on top of each. A quick crack of pepper and back into the 200C oven for 20 minutes.
For the last couple of minutes, I sprinkled on some grated cheese.
Delish!