Turkey Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Portobellos

Mike's Mom was coming over to have dinner with us.  I thought it would be nice to cook for her since the week before she took me out for a nice lunch and to get our nails done (and wouldn't let me pay for anything).  I always pine over what to make, but it is even more difficult when you are trying to impress your future mother-in-law (you want her to know her son is going to be well taken care of).  Luckily, Mike was watching Bobby Flay and Bobby (yes, we are on a first name basis) was making stuffed portobello mushrooms...YUM/JACKPOT!  When I looked up the recipe, I didn't really care for it, so I looked up a few more.  Still, every recipe was missing something, but the one I thought I could use the most was Giada's.  I still changed and added a lot of things and this is what I came up with!


What You Need:

• 1 1/4 lbs turkey sausage (roughly) I used Hot, but use what you like!
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 6 oz bag spinach 
• 1/4 c white wine
• 1 c marscapone cheese
• 3/4 c bread crumbs
• 1/2 c parmesan cheese
• 2 c mozzarella
• 6 portobello mushrooms

Start by adding 2 tbs of olive oil to a frying pan.  Remove the casing from the sausage.  Do this by cutting an incision lengthwise down the link...

and peel the casing away...

and put into the heated oil.  Start mashing the sausages into bits using a spatula.

While it is browning, mince up 2-3 cloves of garlic depending on your taste preference and the size of the cloves.

Once the sausage is browned (about 5 minutes), add the minced garlic and the Italian seasoning.  Stir to combine.

Add in the garlic...

and the white wine.  Wilt the spinach.  I placed a lid on the pan to steam the spinach and make it wilt faster.

While the spinach wilts, prep the mushrooms.  Start by cutting the stems off and either discard or chop up and throw into the sausage mix.

Dress with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place in a heated grill pan and cook 3 minutes per side.

While the mushrooms cook, we are going to finish the sausage mix.  Turn the heat off once the spinach is wilted.  Add in the mascarpone cheese and stir until melted and combined throughout.

Add the bread crumbs...

parmesan cheese...

 and 1 cup of mozzarella.  Stir to combine all of the ingredients.

Take the mushrooms off of the heat and put on to a greased cookie sheet.  Top each mushroom with a heaping portion of the mix.

Distribute the rest of the mozzarella evenly among all 6 of the mushrooms OR add more to the one you know you are going to eat ;)

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

I placed each mushroom on top of a bed of cous cous to serve.

They were SO good!  We all enjoyed it very much (along with a glass of white wine)!  Mary had a really amazing idea to make these into appetizers.  It would be the exact same recipe, but use cremini (baby bellas) instead of portobellas!  So smart!  Either way, you will wow people with this recipe!

Enjoy!