Crimini Mushrooms Stuffed with Basil Pesto Flavored Milllet

I wanted to make a stuffed mushroom appetizer to go with our Thanksgiving meal. However, I didn’t want anything that had a gloppy filling. Last week when we went out to dinner our chef friend Ian made a pesto flavored quinoa for us. I loved the combination of quinoa and pesto as a side dish and wanted to make something similar today. It turned out to be a great filling for a stuffed mushroom. Here is what I made.

Crimini Mushrooms Stuffed with Basil Pesto Flavored Milllet
Makes 12 mushroom caps

Ingredients:

Approximately ½ cup of pesto flavored millet (recipe below)
12 crimini mushroom caps, stems removed
1 pinch Italian Finishing salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Sprinkle interior of the mushrooms with the Italian finishing salt. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the mushrooms are beginning to soften.

Now flip the mushrooms over and stuff each cap with the pesto flavored millet and bake long enough to warm the millet. The amount of time this will take depends on the temperature of the millet when you fill the mushroom caps. Don’t overcook since you don’t want the millet to dry out.

If you like you can add a few pine nuts to the millet and/or top with whole wheat bread crumbs if you want a crunchy top.

Nutritional Information (per mushroom cap):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 22.9
Calories From Fat (20%) - 4.64

Total Fat - 0.52g
Saturated Fat - 0.07g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 24.57mg
Potassium - 73.06mg
Total Carbohydrates - 3.65g
Fiber - 0.45g
Sugar - 0.25g
Protein - 0.85g

Comments:

These stuffed mushrooms have a lot of flavor considering how low fat they are compared to standard stuffed mushrooms. Everyone enjoyed them tonight, vegans and omnivores. I will definitely be making many different variations of these during the holidays since they were so well received.

Pesto Flavored Millet
Makes 2 ½ cups – 5 half cup servings

Ingredients:

1 cup millet
2 ½ cups water
3 tablespoons Genovese pesto

Directions:

Combine the millet and water and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling reduce to a simmer and cook covered until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Allow to stand covered for at least 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork. Add the pesto a tablespoon at a time and fluff into the millet with a fork. Add pesto until you like the color and flavor. We thought 3 tablespoons of pesto was enough.

This recipe makes much more filling than is necessary to stuff 12 mushrooms. However, extra pesto flavored millet won’t be a problem. The leftover millet makes a wonderful side dish.

Nutritional Information (1/2 cup serving):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 187.55
Calories From Fat (25%) - 47.01

Total Fat - 5.24g
Saturated Fat - 0.67g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.8mg
Potassium - 103.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 29.6g
Fiber - 3.54g
Sugar - 0.1g
Protein - 4.84g

Comments:

This millet is so good you will be glad you made extra. I intentionally made more than I needed for the mushrooms so that we had leftovers for lunch the next couple of days. Adding pesto to the millet adds so much to the millet making it more than an ordinary side dish.

When I made this earlier today both the hubby and I had to taste it and …. let’s just say it was a good thing I made extra since we tasted a bit more than we actually needed to for quality control.

Unrelated note:

I think is going to be my last post tonight. I need to relax and unwind. A hot bath is calling my name at the moment. I will be back tomorrow with more recipes from our Thanksgiving menu. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!