Foodie Friday Phyllo-Wrapped Stuffed Mushrooms (Three Ways)

Take the mess out of serving stuffed mushrooms at a party with this Foodie Friday recipe that can be made ahead in stages.

Phyllo-Wrapped Stuffed Mushrooms Three-Ways (total prep time 40-50 min. About 9 servings per variety, or you can just make three of each kind for a smaller snack )

*Make ahead the roasted asparagus, red and green peppers and onions. Also steam the shrimp and brown the sausage in advance and set aside until ready to assemble.

Asparagus-Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

4 oz. soft goat cheese at room temperature (choose a mild variety without any added herbs or other flavors)

1/3 C. roasted asparagus, snipped into small pieces with kitchen shears

Juice ½ lemon

Pinch each of salt and cracked black pepper

¼ tsp. balsamic vinegar

Small, stemmed, cleaned mushroom caps, oven roasted or sauteed

1 pkg. phyllo dough, thawed

Melted butter

Shrimp-Red Pepper Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

½ C. diced cooked shrimp

¼ C. roasted red bell pepper (pimento) snipped into small pieces with kitchen shears

¼ tsp. Old Bay Seasoning.

Cleaned small mushroom caps, roasted or sauteed

Phyllo dough, thawed

Melted butter

Sausage and Pepper Stuffed Mushrooms with Mozzarella Cheese

½ C. ground mild sweet Italian sausage, browned

¼ C combined roasted green bell pepper and onions snipped into small pieces with kitchen shears

¼ C. shredded mozzarella cheese

Cleaned small mushroom caps, roasted or sauteed

Phyllo dough, thawed.

Melted butter

*Make the filling components ahead of time by laying out the vegetables on an aluminum-covered sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in a 350 oven until soft.  Some vegetables will be done before others so check often and remove each vegetable as they reach the desired doneness.  You still want a little texture to the mushrooms and the onions take less time to cook and begin to caramelize before the thicker peppers and asparagus. You can set the cooked vegetables aside and keep covered in the refrigerator for several days until ready to use.

To prepare the wrapped mushrooms:  Melt 1 stick of butter per 9 serving batches.  Preheat oven to 350.  Set out all ingredients and have a pastry brush and damp paper towels ready since you have to work quickly with phyllo to keep it from drying out and becoming brittle.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mound the prepared fillings into the prepared mushroom caps.  Unfold the phyllo sheets. Place one sheet on pan and quickly brush the entire surface with butter, add another sheet, butter and repeat until you have four sheets.  With clean kitchen shears, cut the phyllo into three rows lengthwise and 3 rows widthwise, making 9 uniform squares.  Place the filled mushrooms in the center of each square.  Gather the edges of the pastry how you like. I liked to bunch the ends up into a peak to represent the asparagus for that variety, a little square envelope for the shrimp and roughly tucked rounds for the sausage.  Brush the surface pastry as you go to keep it from breaking and to get it to stick to itself.  To better clarify which pastry is stuffed with each filling, sprinkle parsley flakes on the asparagus, a little Old Bay on the shrimp and a sprinkling of grated parmesan on the sausage.

Bake 10 minutes on the bottom rack. Turn the pan a half turn and move it to the top shelf for another 5-10 minutes until the pastry is lightly browned.

Serve on small plates or with napkins. While neater than regular stuffed mushrooms that you can’t eat with your fingers and the filling slides out of, the pastry will still crumble and you and your guests would be happier to have something to catch the crumbs in.