Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms in Tomato Sauce

This is a great dish to make ahead of time then cook it in the oven the day of. These cheesy stuffed goodness would be a great appetizer for your New Years Eve party. It would even make for an amazing main course. Think of this meal like a pasta-less lasagna or a pasta-less ravioli. You can switch the cream cheese for mascarpone, I didn't in this case cause I wanted to keep the cost as low as possible.



Ingredients
10 large mini portabella mushrooms or cremini mushrooms
2 italian sausages
1/4 onion small dice
2 garlic finely minced
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup cream cheese (half package)
1/2 cup shredded 3 cheese blend + 1/4 cup
1.5 cups marinara sauce or any tomato sauce
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Remove the sausage from the casings and set aside. Clean the mushrooms and remove the stems. Save the stems and finely dice them.

2. Heat a skillet on medium heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the sausage and saute until half cooked.

3. Add the diced onion and garlic, saute until garlic is fragrant.

4. Add the mushrooms stems and continue to saute. If the pan starts to burn at the bottom, add 1-2 tbsp of water to deglaze the pan.

5. Turn off the heat and add the cream cheese, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, and chopped parsley, mix until well combined.

6. In a baking dish add the marinara sauce enough to cover the bottom of the dish.

7. Stuff each mushroom with the cheesy mixture and place on top of the tomato sauce. Fill baking dish with mushrooms. For my pan I fit 10 mushrooms.

8. Once you have filled the baking dish, add the remainder of the cheese. Drizzle some olive oil on top, season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 mins.

9. Once out of the oven garnish with freshly chopped parsley.