Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Chorizo

Preparation Time: 15-20 min (plus cooling time) | Cooking Time: 15-20 mins | Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 5-6 Large Portobello mushroom caps (or 8-12 Medium sized)
• 500g Chorizo sausage, roughly diced and chopped 
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 4 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 medium tomato chopped
• ½ cup chopped coriander and/or parsley
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
• 1 chili, chopped and seeded
• ½ cup bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• ½ cup of white wine
• 1 cup finely shredded parmesan 
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella (cheddar or pizza cheese also ok)
• Salt & pepper to season

Method

• Chop and combine garlic, onions and chili.
• Add a little oil to a heavy based pan and saute onion mix until onions become translucent, ~5 mins.
• Add chopped chorizo and combine, cook until chorizo starts to brown, approximately ~8-10 mins.
• Add in chopped tomatoes, coriander (parsley) & thyme, stir through.
• Add breadcrumbs slowly combining into mixture, keeping aside a little for later.
• Continue to stir while cooking on low-medium heat for another 5 mins
• Add tomato paste and wine and cook for another 5 mins until wine has cooked off.
• Take off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature, approx 15-20 mins.
• Pre-heat oven to 180℃
• While chorizo mix is cooling, prepare mushroom cups by removing stems, wash and dry thoroughly.
• Spray or brush a little oil on the outside of the mushroom (the top of the mushroom).
• Then lay top side down on a grease proof oven tray.
• Season the inside of the mushroom with a little salt and pepper.
• When the chorizo mix has cooled sufficiently mix in the finely grated parmesan.
• Then spoon into each mushroom enough chorizo mix to create almost a dome shape, don't be shy here. Use the inside of a spoon or ladle, to press or pack more mix in to mushrooms.
• Sprinkle each mushroom with grated mozzarella to your desired amount. I like a lot. Then top with a little extra breadcrumbs.
• Place in the middle of the oven and bake until cheese starts to brown, ~15-20 mins, if cheese hasn't browned in that period you can always finish off by setting oven on to the grill setting and finish off - but keep an eye on it as it can burn quickly.
• Garnish with a little parsley and serve.

Tips & Alternatives

• Larger portobello mushrooms actually make for a great main course on their own, if you use small ones these work just as well as a starter or canapes.
• I tend to like a little more cheese as a topping, you don't need to do it that way and be a little more modest than I tend to be.
• In the example above I use a combination of soft and hard chorizo sausage, the hard is almost like a salami. You can go super soft and deskin the sausage and use on the meat almost like a mince and the filling almost looks like drier style bolognese.
• If using spicy chorizo feel free to cut out the chili, alternatively add more chili if you want more kick. 
• You can go vegetarian, using the latest plant based meat alternatives - I would be very interested in any comments.