Brie Stuffed Mushrooms, Blogs, and a Book Signing

I am so excited to share this recipe with you.  It is one of my new favorites.  I have made it about 3 times in the last few months, and everyone seems to enjoy it as much as I do.  It would be a perfect appetizer for a Christmas party because of the green herbs on top. It also gives me another excuse to use my little cast iron skillet that I told you about in the last post, but you can use any baking dish if you don’t have one.  This recipe is one of those where the end result is greater than the sum of its ingredients.  Does that make sense?  In other words, it doesn’t seem like this should taste as good as it does, because it is so simple, but the flavor is incredible.

This amazing mushroom appetizer came from Ree Drummond at Thepioneerwoman.com.  She is always making me laugh or cry or both.  I never knew reading about a recipe could be so funny.  Until a friend told me about her website, I had never read any blogs before, but once I read hers, I was hooked.  It opened a whole new door to me in the area of cooking.  I will always be grateful to her for that.

Since finding Thepioneerwoman.com, Ree and I have become good friends.  We have coffee together every morning.  She just doesn’t know it yet!:)  Recently, she came to the Phoenix area for a book signing, and my mom and I decided to go.  She talked for a few minutes and shared part of her life with the audience through slides.  She is as sweet in person as she seems on the internet.  After her presentation, we had a couple of hours to wait while standing in line for her to sign our cookbooks.  I stood there and pondered and planned what I was going to say to her.  It was something along the lines of how much I liked her writing, how I have my second cup of coffee while reading her blog every morning, how sweet her kids are, etc., etc. You know what I said?  Absolutely nothing.  I froze up.  My tongue was completely tied.  I was so mad at myself.  I guess she will never know how much I appreciate her recipes, and how she starts my day off on such a positive note. If you have never visited her blog, you will have to check it out.  Try these mushrooms, too.  They will both make you smile.

BRIE STUFFED MUSHROOMS

• 1 (16 oz.) package white button mushrooms, washed and stems removed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 5 green onions, sliced (up to middle of dark green part)
• splash of white wine
• 1 wedge of Brie cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter in large saucepan.  Add mushroom caps and toss to coat in butter.  Sprinkle lightly with salt, and cook for 1 minute.  Remove mushrooms from pan and place upside down in a baking dish or mini cast iron skillet.
2. In the same saucepan (without cleaning it) throw in garlic, parsley, and green onions.  Sprinkle very lightly with salt and splash in wine.  Stir around until wine evaporates, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.
3. Cut rind off of Brie wedge, then cut pieces of Brie to fit each mushroom cap.  Place inside, lightly pressing to anchor each piece of Brie.
4. Top mushrooms with parsley/garlic mixture.
5. Place into the oven for 15 minutes, until Brie is melted.

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