Persian stuffed portobellos on sourdough

MARCH 2018 | Wai Lin Coultas

MOST STUFFED mushroom recipes require first baking with just the caps and again after stuffing them, but you can streamline this to just one bake. The yummy ingredients used as stuffing allow heat from above to easily penetrate through to the caps; all neatly balanced by the milder flavours of accompanying crisp lettuce and capsicums on hearty toast … perfect for brunch!

Ingredients 2 large Portobello mushrooms, only stalks chopped 1 large cos heart lettuce leaf, finely sliced ½ medium red capsicum, deseeded and julienned 2 slices of sourdough bread Extra virgin olive oil

For the stuffing 3½ tbsp fine bread crumbs 2½ tbsp butter, melted 1 tbsp tomato ketchup 3 tbsp grated mature Cheddar cheese 1 tsp Herbies Persian spice mix 10 sprigs chives 3 sprigs oregano 4 sprigs thyme 2 sprigs lemon verbena 4 sprigs flat leaf parsley Pink Himalayan rock salt

Instructions 1. Pre-heat oven to 180OC and chop up the herbs’ leaves in a processor. 2. Mix together chopped mushroom stalks, bread crumbs, butter, ketchup, spice mix, chopped herbs and 2/3 of the cheese; seasoning. 3. Heap ½ the mixture onto each upturned Portobello cap; sprinkling ½ the remaining cheese over. 4. Bake stuffed caps for 25 to 30 minutes until caps soften, stuffing crisps and cheese melts. 5. Meanwhile, sprinkle oil on the sliced breads and toast on a frying pan over a medium flame till golden brown both sides. 6. To plate, place ½ the capsicum and a few sliced lettuce leaves on a slice of toast; topping with a stuffed Portobello before lashing with oil and garnishing with more lettuce.

Serves 2

Photo | Mike Moores