Baked Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Cheese And Tomato

A medley of tomato, goat cheese and pesto. It’s full of protein, calcium and potassium. This would be a splendid starter for a dinner or a full course at lunch.
Ingredients:
4 large Tuscan Portobello mushrooms 140g each, available in Costco
100g chopped fresh red tomatoes
150g goat cheese
1 lemon zest
1 garlic clove, crushed or finely chopped
pesto sauce
pine nuts
freshly chopped parsley
freshly ground black pepper
salt
Preparation:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C, wipe the mushrooms with a paper towel to remove any dirt. Remove gills from underside of mushroom by your hands or spoon and scraping them out. Be careful not to break it, set aside the gills or stalk.

2. Coarsely chop the gills and place in a mixing bowl.

3. Crumble the goat cheese into the bowl, add the garlic, tomatoes, 1 tbsp chopped parsley, pesto sauce, 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, a little salt and pepper to taste. Adjust the seasoning according to your taste.

4. Mix well by using spoon.

5. Add the lemon zest and mix thoroughly.

6. Mound the stuffing mixture into the mushroom caps and feel free to pack it down. The amounts will depend on the size of your mushrooms, just fill 'em up and be gentle.

7. Place the stuffed mushrooms in a 24x24cm porcelain baking pan or any baking pan. Top them off with a dollop of pesto.

8. Pour with a bit of extra olive oil.

9. Bake them at preheated over for approx. 20 minutes or more until the mushrooms are tender.

10. After 20 minutes sprinkle the top with pine nuts, add more parsley and continue baking another 5 minutes, remove from oven.

11. Serve in individual serving dish.

Note:
These earthy mushrooms are beyond delicious, the cheese is melted and mushrooms are so tender and juicy.