These are two recipes for stuffed portobello mushrooms that can be used as delicious appetizers or even main dish for dinner during the week. One is with spinach and ricotta as the main ingredients and the other is a simple tomato-mozzarella combination. Both of them are really tasty.

I like my food a little spicy so I added a few chillies in the spinach-ricotta mixture. I had some (mild) Mexican salsa in the fridge so I decided to use it as a topping and it worked really well!

Portobellos are quite big and meaty mushrooms, very tasty and a couple of them stuffed can be enough to feed an adult.

Ingredients (for six mushrooms)

Spinach and ricotta filling (3 mushrooms):

• 3 portobello mushrooms.

• 200 gr (0.4 lb, 7 oz) of fresh spinach.

• 100 gr (0.2 lb, 4 oz) ricotta cheese.

• ½ onion chopped.

• 1 garlic clove chopped.

• 1 egg.

• ½ red pepper chopped.

• 1 red chilli finely chopped.

• 3 tablespoons of Salsa sauce.

• Grated mozzarella.

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.

• Salt and ground pepper.

Tomato and mozzarella filling (3 mushrooms):

• 3 portobello mushrooms.

• 150 gr (0.3 lb, 5 oz) fresh mozzarella balls.

• 3-4 sweet cherry tomatoes.

• Fresh basil leafs.

Portobello mushrooms stuffed with spinach and ricotta.

Wash the spinach, drain it well and chop it. In medium heat, add the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, pepper and chilli until they get soft. Add the garlic and stir for ~ 1 minute, then add the spinach and cook it until its juices are reduced. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.

Place the spinach in a bowl and add the ricotta and egg. Use a fork and stir well until all the ingredients become one nice paste.

Clean the mushrooms using a kitchen towel. Spread some olive oil on the top using a kitchen brush and place them upside down. Fill each one with the spinach and ricotta mixture, a tablespoon of Mexican Salsa sauce and some grated mozzarella to finish. Place them in a tray covered with greaseproof paper.

Cook them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (360 F) for ~ 20 minutes until golden brown.

Portobello mushrooms stuffed with tomato and mozzarella.

As before, clean the mushrooms and spread some olive oil on top. Fill the portobellos with slices of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and add a couple of basil leafs in each one. Season them with some ground pepper.

Place them (together with the spinach and ricotta-stuffed ones?) in a tray covered with greaseproof paper and cook them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (360 F) for ~ 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and looks golden brown.

Serve them hot with some basil on top.

Bon appetit!