Garlic Stuffed Mushrooms with Dashes Hot Sauce

Serves 6 in about 40 minutes. The pot starts with panko bread crumbs, then parmesan cheese plus.

Ingredients

• 18 medium mushrooms
• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or grated
• 3 tablespoons panko bread crumbs, or use seasoned for added flavor
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated, plus extra for garnish
• 2 pinches kosher salt
• Pinch pepper
• 2 dashes of hot sauce

Method

1. Warm oven to 400° degrees.
2. Clean mushrooms and remove the stems. Set stems aside.
3. Chop the stems finely, or use a mini food processor to chop them.
4. In a microwave safe bowl add 4 Tablespoons of the butter, and the garlic. Microwave for about 20 seconds, or until butter is soft. If the butter melts completely, that's okay, just try not to let it get too hot.
5. Stir in the Panko bread crumbs to the butter mixture, and stir.
6. Stir in the chopped mushroom stems, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and hot sauce, if using. Mix well to combine. Mixture should be thick.
7. In a cast iron frying pan, or oven save dish, add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter and place the pan in the oven for a couple of minutes to melt the butter.
8. Lift out the pan from the oven and very carefully arrange the mushrooms, stem side up, in a single layer in the pan (Be careful as pan will be hot!).
9. With a small spoon, fill the cavaties of the mushrooms with the filling. Try to use all of the filling. Mound it up!
10. Cook mushrooms for 25 minutes. Halfway through cooking time, baste them with the butter from the bottom of the pan, using a spoon (be careful!).
11. Lift out from oven and enjoy hot, or room temperature.

More appetizers ideas are in the appetizers collection.