A Riff: Mexican Stuffed Portobellos

The portobello parmesan went over so well at the T house that I decided to experiment. We love all things spicy, so I thought, "Why not Mexican?"

The portobello's at the grocery store were still huge-ass buggers. I don't know what they're putting in the soil, but it's causing mushroom elephantiasis. Three of them cost me**coughcough** over six bucks.

I had a russett potato lying around, so I decided to bake it off and mash it, since I liked the heft potato added to the Roasted Chile Rellenos we made a few weeks ago.

I also had two spicy green chile sausages from Whole Foods in the freezer, so I thawed them, popped them out of their casings and sauteed them up with a shallot.

When I added the mashed potato to the sausage and shallot mixture, it seemed dry. I added 1/3 cup salsa, a minced jalapeno pepper, a good dollop of jalapeno cream cheese and about 2/3 cup shredded pepper jack.

The filling tasted pretty good at this point. I added salt, pepper and an extra shake of chili flakes (did I mention that we like spicy around here?)

I prepped the portobellos: gave them a good rub with a damp paper towel, spooned out the gills and stems, glugged some olive oil over them and sprinkled on salt and pepper.

We grilled them on medium high heat for about 2 minutes per side. Then I filled them, topped them with a little extra shredded cheese and back on the grill they went, lid closed, for about 8 minutes.

We LOVED them! I think we liked them even better than the Italian version! Feel free to tinker with the spices/ingredients in this recipe, since it's a complete riff.

Here's the approximate recipe for ours:

Grilled Stuffed Mexican Portobellos
serves 3-4

3 ginormous or 4 large portobello mushrooms, cleaned, gills and stems removed
1 large russet potato, baked and mashed
2 spicy sausages: you can use Italian, chorizo, andouille, whatever you can find
1/3 cup salsa
1/4 cup low-fat jalapeno flavored cream cheese
1 chopped seeded jalapeno pepper
2/3 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded
salt, pepper and chile flakes to taste

Heat grill to medium-high. Brush portobellos with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill until mushrooms begin to soften a little, about 2 minutes per side.

Remove sausages from casings and cook over medium heat; drain fat. Combine sausage with remaining ingredients. Stuff into mushrooms. If desired, top with a little extra cheese.

Grill, with lid closed, until cheese is hot and melted, 5-10 minutes.