We’ve been a little quiet lately, and if you’ve been wondering why, it’s because we’ve been traveling (and we’ll share some great food recommendations soon). But in the meantime, with going away and everything else in our lives we haven’t had too much time to cook, so we’ve been seeking out easy meals. It’s lucky, then, that we came across this recipe in the New York Times, which is super simple to make and very tasty. It takes some of the same ingredients you would use for eggplant parm or chicken parm and combines them with hearty portobello mushrooms, then everything comes together in your oven. This was a perfect meal for a busy day and we really liked how it came out, so we’ll show you how to bake this up in no time.
You’ll need:
- A 10-ounce package of cherry tomatoes
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- 8 portobello mushroom caps
- A 24-ounce jar of marinara sauce
- 12 ounces of mozzarella
- Basil
- Panko breadcrumbs
You can first take your cherry tomatoes and cut them all in half, then mix with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some salt and pepper and spread them onto a baking sheet. Next, remove any stems from your mushrooms and then place them, rounded side down, onto the same baking sheet and pour a little olive oil into each one, plus add more salt and pepper. Also chop 4 garlic cloves and scatter them over everything.
Now spoon marinara sauce into each mushroom …
… then shred your mozzarella and top each mushroom with a generous sprinkling of cheese.
Place the baking sheet in the oven at 425°F for 20 minutes, until the mozzarella is melted and browned (you can also finish the mushrooms off in your broiler, but watch them carefully to be sure nothing burns!).
While your vegetables are baking, warm a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat and add in a cup of panko, along with a pinch of salt. Chop a large handful of basil leaves and place those in as well, and stir everything around for a few minutes until the bread crumbs turn lightly brown. Take the pan off the heat right away and place the panko in a bowl to cool.
Once your baking sheet comes out of the oven, plate up each mushroom with some tomatoes and top with the panko. You can add a few extra basil leaves as well – then dig in!
We think these mushrooms look pretty cool: they’re stuffed with tomato sauce and melty cheese, topped with crispy basil breadcrumbs, and crowned with some roasted cherry tomatoes. All that, and for very little work! All you have to do is chop the tomatoes and garlic, arrange them and the mushrooms on a baking sheet, add in the sauce and cheese, then toast the breadcrumbs and assemble everything. And you get some very tender tomatoes and mushrooms, thanks to the roasting, paired with the classic combo of marinara and mozzarella. This is definitely a filling meal, and great for whipping up when you want something quick and interesting. We love parmigiana anything, and we’re happy we found a new variation to try.