Mile High Mushrooms Recipe

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400.
2. Remove stems gently from all the caps and set aside. Use a knife and spoon to remove any remaining mushroom material inside. They should be clean and almost white inside when done.
3. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the onions and all of the peppers for use later.
4. Sauté the garlic, onions, sausage, salt and essence with the minced mushroom stems in two tablespoons of olive oil. Make sure to break up the sausage into very small pieces when cooking.
5. Drain remaining oil off when done.
6. Mix remaining onions, peppers, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, the Italian Seasoning, a few shakes of salt and the pepper into a small bowl. Once done, pour this over the bottom of the baking dish.
7. In a large bowl, mix the sausage mixture, breadcrumbs, and cheese. Taste the mixture before stuffing the peppers, it should be somewhat spicy, with just a hint of saltiness from the parmesan cheese. If it isn't spicy enough for you, spice it up NOW, because once the mushrooms are stuffed, you are pretty much done.
8. Once mixture is right, then stuff the mushrooms. put your finger and thumb in an ok circle around the mushroom hole. With your other hand, press the mixture deeply into the mushroom, and fill the circle made by your fingers so the mixture actually raises about half an inch or more from the mushroom cap.
9. Dust the outside of the stuffing with the second bread mixture to give it a nice crispy outside when its done cooking.
10. Place all mushrooms into the olive oil and peppers mixture coating the bottom of the baking dish.
11. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes in the middle of the oven, making sure that the breading doesn't burn during that time.
12. When the 15 minutes are done, switch the oven to broil, 500 degrees, and move the dish up under the broiler for only long enough for the tops of the mushrooms to become a nice golden brown.