Stuff and bake these really amazing mushrooms till hot, tender, and golden. Every bite is heaven, packed with beef and sausage flavors, topped with velvety béchamel sauce! Serve them a s appetizers as well. They are simply gorgeous!

Serves: 4-6 Prep. time: 15′ Cooks in: 60′ Ready in: 1:15′

Ingredients
12 large portobello mushrooms
extra-virgin olive oil

For the stuffing
400 g beef minced meat
4 slices of bacon, finely chopped
100 g pork sausage, finely chopped
1 large onion, grated
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 allspice berries
1 bay leaf
1 glass of white wine
1 tsp tomato paste
½ cup tomato, finely chopped

For the béchamel sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
500 ml milk
1 egg
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup Graviera cheese or Gruyere, grated
salt

Method
Step 1
Preheat oven at 150οC. Remove mushroom stems and chop them in small pieces. Remove mushroom seeds with a tea spoon. Brush mushroom caps with olive oil inside out. Bake for 15′. Allow to cool.

Step 2
Stuffing: In a pan heat 3 tbsp of oil and cook onion, bacon and chopped sausage on medium heat until bacon changes color. Then stir in minced meat until it changes color. Add allspice, bay leaf, tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Stir in wine and allow alcohol to evaporate. Add chopped tomato and stir occasionally until all liquid evaporates. Allow to cool a little and stuff mushrooms.

Step 3
For the béchamel sauce: In a pan melt butter on medium heat and stir in flour for 1-2 minutes or until it becomes light brown. Add warm milk in a steady flow stirring continually until sauce thickens but is a little runny. Remove pan from heat, allow to cool for 2 minutes and add eggs, stirring vigorously until incorporated. Stir in nutmeg, a little salt and cheese. Spoon over mushrooms until stuffing is well covered and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes or until béchamel is golden.

Photo: George Drakopoulos – Food styling: Olivia Webb & Matina Petroutsa