Stuffed Baby Bello Mushrooms
Funghi Ripieni al Sugo·(FOON-ghee ree-PYEH-nee ahl SOO-goh)
Chapter 2 — Antipasti & Starters
These mushrooms are a tribute to the Mezzogiorno immigrants who arrived in America and found themselves suddenly surrounded by cheap meat. Taking the old-world Sicilian technique of stuffing hollowed vegetables with stale bread and cheese, they added sweet, fennel-heavy sausage and swapped foraged mushrooms for the abundant American cremini. But what makes this definitively Italian-American is the finish: these caps are nestled directly into a bubbling pool of your four-hour Sunday Gravy. It is rich, meaty, deeply savory, and requires an entire foil-wrapped loaf of garlic bread to mop up the glorious aftermath. This is the ultimate red-sauce joint starter.
Before you start
The Dutch Oven and Sheet Pan Pipeline.
Hollow the mushrooms and prep the stuffing hours before your guests arrive, keeping the assembled caps on a sheet pan in the fridge. When it is time to eat, transfer them to a baking dish, ladle in the hot gravy straight from the Dutch oven, and bake.
Ingredients
- baby bello mushrooms24 large
- extra-virgin olive oil3 tbsp
- sweet Italian sausage with fennel1/2 lb
- yellow onion1 small
- green bell pepper1/2 cup
- garlic4 clove
- dry white wine1/4 cup
- Italian seasoned breadcrumbs3/4 cup
- Pecorino Romano1/2 cup
- fresh flat-leaf parsley1/4 cup
- unsalted butter2 tbsp
- Sunday Gravy2 cup
- kosher saltto taste
- freshly ground black pepperto taste
Method
- 01
Hollow out the mushroom caps and mince the stems.
Gently scrape out the dark gills from the inside of the caps using a small spoon to create a larger cavity, and arrange them cavity-side up on a sheet pan. Trim the tough bottoms off the reserved stems and finely mince them.
- 02
Brown the sweet Italian sausage.
Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a wide skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the sausage, and aggressively break it into the smallest pieces possible with a wooden spoon until deeply browned and the fat has rendered.
- 03
Sauté the vegetables in the rendered pork fat.
Lower the heat to medium, add the minced onion, green bell pepper, and mushroom stems, and cook until softened and the liquid has evaporated. Clear a small circle in the center, drop in the garlic paste, and toast for 45 seconds before mixing it in.
- 04
Deglaze the pan and build the stuffing.
Pour in the white wine, scrape the bottom of the skillet, and let it reduce until nearly dry. Remove from the heat, let it cool slightly, then stir in the breadcrumbs, Pecorino Romano, parsley, and butter until it forms a cohesive, deeply seasoned paste.
- 05
Mound the stuffing into the hollowed mushroom caps.
Drizzle the caps with a tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt, then tightly pack the sausage mixture into each one, mounding it high above the rim.
- 06
Braise the stuffed mushrooms in Sunday Gravy.
Ladle the Sunday Gravy into a large baking dish to form a shallow pool, nestle the stuffed caps directly into the sauce, and top with a final dusting of Pecorino.
- 07
Bake until the mushrooms are tender and the tops are golden.
Bake uncovered at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes so the earthy mushroom liquor enriches the bubbling gravy, hitting them with the broiler for 60 to 90 seconds at the end if the breadcrumb crust needs more color.
Notes
Foil-Wrapped Garlic Bread is Non-Negotiable.
Serve this dish directly from the baking dish alongside a heavily steam-softened, foil-wrapped loaf of garlic bread. The steam softens the bread, the butter melts in, and the garlic perfumes everything, making it the perfect vessel to swipe through the mushroom-infused Sunday Gravy.
The Vegetarian Adaptation.
If omitting the sausage, honor the original Sicilian cucina povera: increase the minced mushroom stems, and add a quarter cup of chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes and two tablespoons of pine nuts to the breadcrumb mix.
From Cook Red Sauce at Home.