Chicken Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

When preparing a meal, there are ingredients and cooking methods that automatically make the it better. This has three of them. Mushrooms, cheese and baked. Roasted chicken, mixed with cheese and loaded onto a Portobello cap, baked so that everything comes together. Definitely making it more than just the sum of it’s parts. This dish is chicken stuffed Portobello mushrooms, and it’s good.

Mushroom, is a generic word that describes a fungus that has a fleshy cap, gills on the underside and a stem. But there are many different types. They have been around for longer that we have. So we’ve been eating them since the beginning. As well as a food source, they’re used for medicinal purposes, as a hallucinogenic, and some are poisonous. Luckily, by now we’ve figured out which is which. They are a good source of Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Pantothenic acid (B5), phosphorous and zinc. Definitely part of a healthy balanced diet.

The Portobello is a member of the same family as the button mushroom, except it has a much larger cap, that is obviously thicker and tastier. In a way, it’s naturally designed to be stuffed. However, it didn’t always have the popularity it does today. This was partly due to it’s color and size, however a strong marketing program in the ’80’s portraying it as a healthy meat alternative seemed to solve that problem. Now it is one of the most popular mushrooms.

There are many different options when it comes to stuffing a Portobello, but it’s called chicken stuffed Portobello mushrooms, so chicken is the base. Because of the cooking times, the chicken has to be precooked, and mixed with the other ingredients and then loaded onto the Portobello cap. Of all the ways to cook chicken, baking is one of my favorite. The spices get a chance to incorporate into the meat during the cooking, and, there’s some caramelization that adds to the flavor. Precooking the chicken doesn’t have to be done at the time you’re making the chicken stuffed Portobello’s. They can be precooked and kept in the fridge.

Lay the chicken breast in a parchment paper lined oven dish and cut some shallow scores in the meat. This will allow the seasonings to permeate better. I’m using some simple seasonings, however, feel free to turn up the heat and flavor if you like. Melt the butter, this can be in a cup in the microwave, add the spices and mix well. Pour over the chicken breast, put into a preheated 350 degree oven and cook approximately 40 mins or till 165 degrees. When done allow to cool, cut, shred and set aside. Make sure you save any liquid in the oven dish, it will add to the flavor. Remember to wash up after handling raw meat, check my post on safe food prep.

Now for the rest of the stuffing. First, clean the Portobello caps, scrape out the gills and set aside. When making anything savory, a good base is always necessary, for me that’s the holy trinity of onions, peppers and garlic, diced very fine. Preheat a pan over medium heat, add olive oil, when hot add the vegetables, stir to mix, cover, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning. When they’re done, add the chicken, and any reserved juice, mix well. Remove from the heat, add the gills that you had set aside, and stir in some of the cheese, reserving some for the topping.

Now spoon the stuffing mixture onto the Portobello caps. The trick here is not too much. The stuffing layer should be no thicker that the thickness of the cap. If the stuffing is too thick, the cap will never cook. Now place on an oven tray into a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 mins. Whatever stuffing is left over, save and refrigerate. There’s lot of uses, make more stuffed Portobello’s, heat up and put in a taco for a snack, or, make empanadas (that will be another post). After 20 mins, remove and top with the rest of the cheese, put back for another 10 mins. When done remove from the oven, allow to cool for 5 mins before serving.

There are many options for serving, with rice, with pasta, or whatever is your favorite side. Enjoy dinner and thank you for reading