Chimney Stacks - Savoury Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms!

This recipe was devised when I found that the mushroom stalks from some fairly hefty sized Portobello Mushrooms, would just not fit into the stuffing mixture, even though they were finely diced! So, I made "chimney stacks" from the offending stalks and served them as a starter at dinner for some friends, who LOVED them! They would also be wonderful as a light lunch, allow two per person with fresh bread & salad. Do not be tempted to add ANY liquid to the mushrooms before baking them - they make their own gorgeous juices whilst merrily cooking away in the oven! You must also be sure to get very HIGH quality sausages or sausagemeat, with no more than 10% fat preferably.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 3-6
• Yields: 6 Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 6  large portabella mushrooms, wiped clean
• 125  g  good quality sausages or 125  g  good quality sausage meat
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1 -2  garlic clove, diced finely
• 1⁄2 red onion, peeled & diced finely
• 1⁄2  red pepper, diced finely
• 4  drained sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, diced finely
• 50  g parmesan cheese
•  freshly ground sea salt
•  freshly ground  mixed peppercorns
• 50  g  grated cheddar cheese
• 1 -2  fresh tomato, sliced thinly
•  parsley (to garnish)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 7.
2. Take a large earthenware ovenproof dish and pour in half the olive oil, swill it around to cover the base.
3. Gently remove the stalks from the mushrooms and set aside.
4. If using sausages, take the sausage casings off them and break them up into a large bowl.
5. Heat up the remaining olive oil and add the garlic, onion and red pepper. Cook over a medium heat for about 10-15 minutes or until they are soft.
6. Add the onion, garlic & red pepper mixture to the sausagemeat & give it all a good mix.
7. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, a good twist or two of salt & mixed peppercorns and mix thoroughly again.
8. Stuff each mushroom with the sausage mixture and place into the oiled ovenproof dish.
9. Place a tomato slice on each of the mushrooms, making a hole in the middle of each slice.
10. Sprinkle on the cheddar cheese and push a mushroom stalk into each of the stuffed mushrooms, through the hole in the tomato slice.
11. Optional: If you have any of the sun-dried tomato oil available, drizzle a little over the top of the mushrooms.
12. Bake in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes; it depends on the size of the mushrooms.
13. Garnish with chopped parsley & serve warm with chunky home-made bread and/or salad.
14. Allow one mushrom per person as a starter and two per person for lunch or a lght meal.