Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

   24 lg White mushrooms; go for the cheap, bland ones
  1/4 c  Shallots or onion; chopped
    2 cl Garlic; chopped
    2 tb Balsamic vinegar
  1/4 c  Water
    2 ts Chicken style seasoning (recipe follows)
   10 oz Frozen chopped spinach; thawed and drained
         Chicken Style Seasoning:
1 1/3 c  Nutritional yeast flakes
    3 tb Onion powder
2 1/2 ts Garlic powder
    1 tb Salt
    1 ts Celery seed
2 1/2 tb Italian seasoning
    2 tb Dried parsley

Chicken Style Seasoning:

Blend smooth all ingredients except parsley. Stir in parsley. Store
in airtight container.

Use this seasoning to make a quick chicken-like stock out of water
when you have no veggie stock on hand. Excellent for flavoring rice
and as a soup base.

Make a very simple, easy, and good-tasting gravy by mixing water,
seasoning, and miso (I like the dark brown rice miso). Typical
proportions: 1-1/2 c water, 1 tb seasoning, 2 ts miso.
Increase/decrease seasonings according your your taste. Right before
serving gravy, mix some starch (I frequently use potato starch) in a
bit of water until well-blended and add to gravy to thicken (do this
over medium heat). Add starch until you reach desired thickness.
Quick, easy, and surprisingly tasty.

Stuffed Mushrooms:

Wash mushrooms and carefully remove stems. Lay out caps on nonstick
jelly-roll pan and pop in oven for 5 to 10 minutes to dry out and
cook slightly. Set caps aside. Chop the mushroom stems finely.

Saute shallots, garlic, and balsamic vinegar in small saucepan. When
onions start to turn translucent add mushroom stems, water, and
seasoning. Cook a few minutes. Add spinach and cook until water is
almost all absorbed/evaporated.

Mound the spinach mixture onto the the mushroom caps, pressing it
into the caps.  Lower oven heat to 300 to 350 F and bake for 10 to
15 minutes until hot and mushroom caps are cooked.

If you leave them slightly undercooked, you can do these ahead and
then heat them up in the microwave when needed.

The chicken style seasoning is one of my favorites. I use it anywhere
I would have used chicken broth to give a richer, more complex flavor
(and anywhere I know need spices, but not sure which ones). I keep a
jar of Chicken Style Seasoning on hand.

From: Michelle Dick <artemis>
Date: Tue, 08 Feb 94 02:06:40 PST