Mediterranean stuffed mushrooms, dip and tapenade…yuuummmm.

Warm, gooey, little feta and sausage filled poppers of joy. Creamy feta and sausage dip spread on a garlic baguette slice with olive tapenade on top…I could just sigh right now,  sigh.

Okay, I am going to share with all of you three of my recipes. I did not get these recipes from a book, or grandma or Mom. These babies are mine… and well, I am kinda doggone proud of them seeing as how when I first met my surfer I evidently could not cook, oh sooo a funny story. He still tells everyone to this day that he is the reason I am such a good cook :)  and he is right.

I came up with them because I love stuffed mushrooms, but most that I have had are dry and bland. So these have flavor baaabyyy, and by not cooking the sausage before hand they stay moist. The dip came out of the leftovers to appease my surfer. He, unlike me, does not enjoy mushrooms. He says that they taste like dirt gasp,blasphamy. Although he does love my stuffing recipe, so Vawa-LA. Two recipes out of one. The tapande was just the “cherries” on top that I came up with tonight, so it may change in the future. These are requested every Thanksgiving,  since I was prepping them tonight…I thought that I would go ahead and share them.

They are simple, even if you are brave enough to make the homemade bread crumbs. It is not cheap, but it is not super expensive either. I wish that I had pictures of my own to show you how to make them, but my camera is not with me right now. I have borrowed a  similar looking one off the net ( thanks to Google)

MUSHROOMS

3-8 oz containers of button mushrooms

1-package of Jimmy Dean Sage sausage

2 or 3-4 oz Tomato Basil feta cheese (depends on how much you love feta)

1-12 oz bottle of Cardini’s Caesar dressing

Pepperinchini to taste (1/2 tsp)

2- French Baguettes (or if you really must 1/3 bag of Pepperidge Farms Italian bread crumbs)

First preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Tear up 3/4 of one of the baguettes into small pieces and place in a baking pan. Toast for 10 minutes or just until crisp. Pulse in a blender until they are a rough chop, not fine.

Clean your mushrooms. Then remove the stems & hollow out your mushroom (be careful not to go to deep). Place in two glass baking dishes.

In a large mixing bowl mix sausage, 2 or2 1/2 packages of feta cheese, the entire bottle of Cardini’s Caesar dressing, and half of your toasted bread crumbs. Mix well. Add more bread crumbs as needed. Your mix should resemble thick, pink oatmeal.

Use a teaspoon to stuff your mushrooms. Cap them at around 1/2 an inch above the mushrooms rim. Make sure that they are rounded not flat and not gigantically tall either.

Cover your baking dish with foil and bake your mushrooms at 350 degrees for 25- 30 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake until golden and bubbly (2 to 3 minutes max)

DIP

Left over stuffing

1-8 oz package of cream cheese

1-egg

Take your left over stuffing, add the remainder of feta (if you have any), cream cheese, and egg. Mix well. Place in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Cut the rest of your baguettes into slices, rub a garlic clove across the slices (this gives just enough flavor). Toast the slices under the broiler on Lo just until lightly toasted (don’t step away, they will burn)

Olive Tapenade

1 1/2 cups mix of Kalamata, black olives,green olives, pitted

3  roasted red peppers out of the jar

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon salt (kosher or sea)

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Chop olives and peppers between a fine and rough chop. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in oil and vinegar. Top your bagguette.

If only I could describe to you how good my kitchen smells right now. It is just heavenly with the spices, sausage, and cheese. I am TICKLED beyond belief. I can’t wait to eat the whole batch on my own. Back off, they are mine.

I hope that you enjoy these as much as I and my family have over the years and if you just hate them, lie to me :) .  Just kidding, I would love to hear what you think though.

Remember to have fun in your kitchen, try something new every now and then. You just might create something of your very own. Goodness if I can, you can.

Tickled Red