Honey figs cheese stuffed mushrooms

These honey figs cheese stuffed mushrooms are for the curious and who likes to try the new, the unusual. Goat cheese, dried figs drizzled with honey pair great with Italian brown mushrooms. They make a wonderful dish to enjoy for lunch, dinner, brunch or breakfast.

Probably, these flavour combinations are not what you likely ever thought to use before. But, believe me, they are just perfect. Something earthy, a bit of fruity, creamy and something sweet make a flavour explosion for your taste buds.

Also, I find it quite challenging to find ingredients that pair with mushrooms. What can I put in a mushroom that is not an egg? Do you have an idea? A little brainstorming brought me to this idea.

Try to skip the classic stuffed mushrooms and the legendary egg and mushroom pairing (just like my egg stuffed portobello recipe). Choose an unexpected fruity and cheese stuffing instead. When making a fruit-cheese combo, you have plenty to choose from. Most fruits and cheeses marry great together.

However, I suggest using a soft and full of flavour cheese, which gives that extra kick to the dish. For instance, goat cheese pairs wonderfully with sweet stuff, it’s slightly tangy and often earth flavour reminiscent of mushrooms.

In addition, goat cheese seems to have an affinity for honey. I picked flower honey. But, you can use any honey you prefer most, such as chestnut or pine honey, and make sure you use runny honey. It is easier to drizzle. Wink.

When picking a fruit component to pair with goat cheese, you have plenty of possibilities, too. For example, apricots, dates, cherries, cranberries, pears, grapes and figs marry up perfectly with cheese. Therefore, I picked figs. Dried figs, to be exact. Even though the addition of figs might sound a bit odd, the sweetness of dried figs goes perfectly with goat cheese and mushrooms.

In order to make it even more interesting, I added fresh rosemary. Yes, I couldn’t stop just at cheese, honey and figs. Wink. Thyme and rosemary are both lovely and aromatic herbs. However, I picked rosemary.

Ingredients for honey figs cheese stuffed mushrooms:

• 5 medium Italian brown mushrooms
• 3 dried figs (roughly chopped)
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary (chopped needles)
• 60 g soft goat cheese
• 1-2 tsp of runny honey
• olive oil

To begin, clean the mushrooms (brush off any dirt left) and carefully remove the stems. You can freeze the stems and use them in risotto or something like that (maybe this mushroom barley). Preheat the oven to 200º C.

Then, prepare the filling. Roughly chop the figs, slice the goat cheese and chop the rosemary needles. Combine everything in a small bowl and drizzle with some olive oil and honey. Give it a quick stir and stuff each mushroom with a spoon or two of the filling.

Furthermore, place the stuffed mushrooms onto a baking dish or baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put them in the oven on the middle rack for 12-15 minutes.

Finally, take the honey figs cheese stuffed mushrooms out of the oven, nicely arrange them on a plate, drizzle with a bit more honey and serve.

Enjoy!