[Buellride]

I would love some recommendations on how to pull off a "crazy" breakfast/brunch idea I have. I am going to host a small brunch catering of about 25 individuals at my local church. I will have plenty of time and a commercial kitchen at my disposal.

Background...Of several items, I was thinking of creating a mushroom cup (probably medium-large button mushrooms) filled with a savory egg/bacon/basil mixture inside. Call it a quiche in a mushroom if you will. I only want to make this as a small finger food/tapa that hits flavor vice a full blown entree.

Question: Is this a bad idea? If not, what method should I used to set the egg mixture? Steaming, baking, saute?

Thank you in advance!!

Paul

[ED BUCHANAN]

Clever idea, I would saute eggs and add a bit of cheese so they will stick in caps.
-large grade a fancy caps

[Buellride]

Chef Ed...so saute the eggs until medium firm and then "stuff" them into the caps? I was thinking of spooning the egg mixture into the cap and then cook it someway.

Was looking for a clean exterior of mushroom.

Thanks!

Paul

[ChefToddMohr]

Try the English dish "Shirred Eggs", it's very simple.

Get a small ramekin or souffle dish and butter the sides and bottom.
Now, add any ingredients you'd like to the ramekin and bake.

Perhaps a slice of ham in the bottom, crack an egg on top of that, add your sliced mushrooms, maybe some broccoli florets, a dash of heavy cream, and a Swiss cheese slice on top. Bake until the egg is set to your liking.

Shirred eggs are a lot easier than trying to stuff a mushroom cap. Would you cook the mushrooms first? If so, the cap will let off a lot of water and get softer by the time you scoop your eggs into it. If you're making the eggs first, then baking again in a mushroom cap, the eggs will get very rubbery.

Maybe get a large white mushroom or Portobello, crack the raw egg into it and then bake together.

To be honest, I don't get the combination of mushrooms and eggs anyway.

[KYHeirloomer]

I would use portobello mushrooms rather than buttons for this, because they have a more earthy flavor and better texture.

Perhaps do this: Remove stems and scrape out the gills. Lightly saute the caps in butter until tender but not soft.

Prep your egg mixture and cook it until just short of being done. Spoon into the mushroom caps, top with grated cheese, and pop under the broiler until cheese melts and caps are heated through. Serve immediately.

[Pete]

A lot of good suggestions already. One thing to remember though, is that you will need to precook your mushrooms. The reason for this is they will throw off a lot of water. I would pre-bake them and then pour off the liquid that collects in the hole where the stem used to be.

[Buellride]

Great suggestions all around! I definitely will "dry run" the concept with a mix of both large button and portabellos and see which version works best. Thanks for the expertise!

[DC Sunshine]

I'd be tempted to broil the large cap mushrooms (no stem). Saute chopped bacon and onion, scramble the eggs on top of this & mix thru. Grate some cheese of choice, put a little into cap to make it stick as suggested above. Tear up your basil, toss into egg/bacon scramble, fill caps. Serve...

If you've got lots of time as you said, this should be do-able. If you hink they would like t, add some garlic in with the onon. Could also fry off some fresh breadcrumbs in butter to top the whole thing off - maybe too messy, dunno.

[boar_d_laze]

Mushroom caps are usually stuffed with something which can (a) handle the moisture released during cooking; and (b) hold its own shape during the cooking. I don't think your quiche in the cap idea would work, at least not as described. Most of the custard would escape from the caps during the cooking process, and what remained would be messed up by moisture from the cap.

There are a few ways to make your idea work.

You could saute some duxelles use them to line the bottom of a mini tart shell (you could use pate brisee, or phylo), pour your custard on top and bake.

Or put the sauteed duxelles in a ramekin, pour the custard over, and steam.

The first, a mini-quiche, is a bit old hat, but that doesn't make it bad. The second, chawa mushi, is still pretty new to western palates. Plus there are some novel variations, covering it with broth for instance.

A third possibility, closer to your idea would start with broiling or sauteeing a whole mushroom cap, cut it to fit the bottom of a mini-cupcake pan or small ramekin, and pour the custard over. Either bake covered with foil, in a bain marie, or steam. Unmold, cap on top.

Unfortunately, only the first is finger food. The chawa mushi is a straight appetizer, while the third, call it what you will, is an amuse bouche by itself, or an appetizer if you serve it with a salad.

I realize they all drift far from your original idea, but you have to allow for what the ingredients do well and avoid what they do poorly.

Yes to the others' suggestions. They all sound good, and the ones I've tried have worked well.

BDL

[nichole]

Pretty interesting a bunch of suggestion and question. I appreciate each post. Thanks for the post. Good luck each and everyone.

[teamfat]

Unlike Chef Todd, I *love* mushroom and egg combinations. Usually what I do is fry up a slice or two of bacon, brown sliced shrooms in the bacon fat, put the pile of mushrooms on a plate, bacon on the side and top the shrooms with an egg, sunny side up.

Anyway, as others have said, controlling the moisture of the mushroom caps will be an issue. But mushrooms can be eaten raw. You could put your raw caps on a baking sheet and spoon some very softly scrambled egg into them. Top with a grated cheese, bread crumb and chive mixture, then put under a broiler to brown the crumbs a bit and finish setting the eggs.

It might be worth an experiment or two.

mjb.