An Easy Stuffed Mushroom Appetizer for New Year’s

Tags

appetizers, New Year's Eve, sausage, stuffed mushrooms

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas spending time with family and enjoying all the festivities. I have been taking a much needed break since Saturday, but today I returned to work (until the next holiday weekend!) and decided to return to the blog as well. Just in time to give you this fantastic appetizer idea for your New Year’s celebrations.

We entertained 15 people in our home for our Christmas Eve open house and these mushrooms were the hit of the party. I created this recipe at 11pm the night before the party. As I sat, furiously scribbling, my husband looked over at me and asked, “What are you doing?”

“What else?” I told him matter-of-factly, “Writing a recipe. For tomorrow.”

I think I may just do these things for the heavy sigh and eye-rolling reaction I get. Though, I know for a fact that the satisfaction I felt in the compliments the next day were definitely a driver as well. As soon as I laid down that pen, I knew this would be a winner – but I guess it just as easily could have gone bad. Luckily for you, it didn’t 🙂

Sausage Stuffed Mushroom Appetizers

1-1/2 lbs Fresh mushrooms – about 40 medium
1lb ground sausage
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I make my own – but plain store-bought work just fine)
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
olive oil
1/2 Tablespoon butter
fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about a Tablespoon)
salt
fresh ground pepper
grated Parmesan cheese

Clean mushrooms and remove stems by twisting slightly.
Chop 1/2 of stems (discard the rest or save for another recipe), rosemary and garlic.
Cook sausage until browned in a frying pan breaking into small pieces.
Once sausage is browned, remove from pan and set aside.
Melt butter in same pan over med-high heat. Add chopped mushroom stems, rosemary and garlic and cook until soft.
Mix sausage, sauteed mushroom stem mixture, softened cream cheese, breadcrumbs and lemon juice in a bowl – I had to use my hands to really work the cream cheese in.
Toss the mushroom caps in olive oil, fresh ground pepper and salt.
Stuff mushrooms.
Place on greased cookie sheet.
Top each one with grated (or shaved) parmesan cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.