Slow Carb Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

This recipe for stuffed mushrooms makes an awesome main course served with stir-fried veggies or great nibbles if you’re throwing a party.  The recipe is made with ground pork, which I think works best, but for those who don’t eat pork, you could make it with ground chicken or turkey as well.

The recipe was inspired by a recipe in Jane Kennedy’s “OMG! I Can Eat That?” It was intended to be an appetizer done with shiitake mushrooms, but I had quite a few portabellas on hand that were in danger of going “off”, so improvise I did.  If you’re making these mushrooms as a meal where each person will have their own, I’d stick with the portabellas.  If you’re looking to create “finger food” for a party, the shiitakes would be great.

Serves 6

Ingredients- filling

• 6 Portabella mushrooms (or 24 shiitake mushrooms)
• ½ lb ground pork mince
• 4 green onions (or “spring onion”, in other parts of the world)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 Tbs olive oil or macadamia nut oil

Ingredients- sauce

• 2 Tbs soy sauce or tamari
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• Squeeze of lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F/200C.  Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Prepare the mushrooms by cutting off the stems and placing them on a tray.  If you’re using portabellas, you may want to scoop out the insides.  I didn’t because I was feeling lazy, but you’ll notice that by leaving them in, you get some brown mushroom liquid sloshing around.
3. In a large bowl, combine the pork, green onions, garlic, chilli, white pepper and sea salt.  Divide evenly into your mushroom cups.
4. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place each mushroom, filled-side down, in the pan and cook for a few minutes until the tops turn golden.  Turn and cook on the other side for two minutes.
5. While the mushrooms cook, make the dipping sauce by mixing soy sauce/tamari, sesame oil, chilli and lemon juice.  Set aside.
6. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and transfer to the baking tray.  Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cooked through.  Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.