Stuffed mushrooms are one of those easy to prepare, tasty and nutritious meals that can please everybody. Generally speaking, stuffed food recipes are versatile, because most of the taste resides in the stuffing. One can choose the stuffing according to personal preferences or to the seasonality of various foods. Spices are another great way of creating unique, personalized healthy recipes with amazing taste and flavors.

Here’s one of my favorite stuffed mushrooms recipes, healthy, cheap and doable in no more than 25 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 8 big Portobello mushrooms
• 1/4 of a small celery root, finely grated (don’t use more than 1/4 root, because otherwise the stuffing will have a dry, crumbling texture which is not very nice)
• 1 egg (the egg plays the role of binding the stuffing mixture elements together, but you can skip it or use only the white if you want a low-fat dish)
• 1 cup coarsely grated cottage cheese
• 8 slices of Emmentaler cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes (depending on the mushrooms' size)

Serving: 2-3 people

Method:

Clean the mushrooms thoroughly, detaching their stems. Cut the stems into small pieces, then put them in a bowl and mix them with the egg, the grated cottage cheese, the minced garlic, the grated celery root, the thyme and a pinch of salt. Optionally, you can add other herbs or spices such as red hot chili peppers powder, coriander, cumin or dried basil. Oil a baking dish and put the mushrooms inside, making sure they fit well. If they don’t, take a bigger dish. It is important that the mushrooms stay flat on the bottom of the dish, otherwise the stuffing will drip into the dish. Spoon the egg mixture into each mushroom carefully until you finish it. Bake the mushrooms at medium heat for 10-15 minutes, without covering the dish.

After the 15 minutes, take the dish out of the oven, put on top of each mushroom a slice of Emmentaler cheese, then cook them for another five minutes or until the cheese starts melting. Serve hot, with freshly ground pepper sprinkled on top. I prefer a mix of red, white and black pepper. For a delicious variation, you can serve the stuffed mushrooms with a sour cream topping or with hot salsa.