If you’re looking for a dish to bring or to serve to your next party, Local Flavor has you covered with Ann Sheroda’s Stuffed Mushrooms.
The Scranton resident loves to entertain and has cultivated her own repertoire of appetizers and dips for years. This recipe — which earned her a $50 gift card from Riccardo’s Market, 1219 Wheeler Ave., Dunmore — is a go-to for Sheroda when she attends a party or hosts one.
The mushrooms are filled with a stuffing made of sausage, onion, tomato, spices and cheese. Sheroda advised those following the recipe not to overcook the sausage, as it will cook again when baked inside the mushrooms.
The stuffing is what makes the dish versatile, she said.
“These are easy, and you can use the stuffing pretty much any way you want,” she said. “I’ve made it and stuffed poblano peppers with it, and that’s really good. It just depends on what you like.”
The stuffed mushrooms were a perfect light appetizer for a summer party. The stuffing was flavorful and rich while the mushroom gave the ideal amount of texture to feel full but not overstuffed.
While she doesn’t cook large meals as often as she used to since her daughters, Lindsay and Leslie, are grown, Sheroda still has plenty of recipes up her sleeve. Friends and family know her for her dessert trifle salad bowl and strawberry cake as well as her homemade “Sunday dinner”-type dishes, such as meatloaf, chicken or eggplant parmigiana and all different kinds of chili.
“I am like the chili queen,” she said, laughing.
Her daughters like their mom’s chicken strips, homemade french fries and salads topped with the dozens of dressings Sheroda creates from scratch.
“I never, ever buy anything in a bottle,” she said. “I’ll just make all that stuff myself.”
Sheroda stays busy through her work as an associate broker with Realty Network Group, but one of her favorite places to be is in the kitchen.
“It’s something I’ll do when I have the time to really do it how I want it,” she said. “I enjoy that time I get cooking.”
Ann Sheroda’s Stuffed Mushrooms
18 to 20 white button mushrooms, cleaned
1 small onion, finely chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound sausage
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped tomatoes
8 ounces shredded Monterey jack cheese
Parmesan cheese, to sprinkle
Saute mushrooms and onions until soft, adding salt and pepper.
Take sausage out of skin and crumble into sauted mushrooms. Cook until done; add parsley and tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are soft. Take off heat and add Monterey jack cheese. Mix thoroughly.
Spoon stuffing into mushrooms. Place mushrooms on cookie sheet and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes.
Gia Mazur is an award-winning staff writer and beauty obsessive who joined The Times-Tribune’s Lifestyles department in 2015. She’s a product enthusiast who can’t live without an eyelash curler. A proud Virgo, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk is her go-to. Contact: gmazur@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127; @gmazurTT
