When we were trying to come up with our meals for the week a while back, I wanted to do a new take on lasagna. I had previously made a mushroom lasagna and that was wonderful, but I wanted something slightly less labor-intensive. I wanted the essence of lasagne without the pasta. Weird, I know. What's lasagna without the noodles? Be patient with me, it's worth your wait.
The flash of an idea! I can take the robust tomato sauce and the creamy mozzarella, and layer them directly into a large mushroom cap. Nom! I'm always on board whenever stuffed mushrooms are involved. To keep with the lasagna theme, I layered the mozzarella and tomato sauce, alternating like you would for a regular lasagna. The different textures combined in a savory and oh-so-delicious way. While the mushrooms were cooking, we took the rest of the tomato sauce and dipped some garlic toast in for an appetizer. If you don't plan on snacking while your meal is cooking, you can cut the tomato sauce in half. But I wholly recommend the garlic toast and tomato sauce appetizer.
Italian-Style Stuffed Mushrooms
2 8oz cans tomato sauce (I used one Roasted Garlic, and one Basil, Garlic, and Oregano)
1 6 oz can tomato paste
8 large button mushrooms
2/3 cup mozzarella
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, red pepper, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Simmer at medium/medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
3. Rinse and de-stem mushrooms. In each mushroom, layer a sprinkling of mozzarella, a spoonful of the tomato mixture, mozzarella, tomato mixture, and topped with mozzarella. Place mushrooms in a greased 8x8 glass pan. Top with ground pepper and olive oil.
4. Bake for 25 minutes, until mushrooms are soft to touch.
