An Easy Recipe for Roasted Mushrooms - A Girl Defloured (2024)

I love mushrooms – their earthy + umami flavor is so incredibly satisfying. Though we eat them year round, I do find myself turning to them more often in fall and winter. They have a coziness about them that makes me want to pull on my fuzzy socks. I enjoyed a wonderful bowl of them, spooned over a bowl of creamy polenta at La Cosecha during my trip with California Wines and California Grown to Paso Robles in September. Inspired, I thought I’d share an easy recipe for roasted mushrooms. Once roasted, they’re spooned over crispy polenta rounds that have been smeared with a luscious fromage blanc. It’s an easy appetizer recipe that is perfect for holiday entertaining.

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Roasted Mushrooms in the Oven Are Easy & Delicious

If you’ve never before tried roasting mushrooms in the oven, they are divine. They cook quickly, and are easily flavored with whatever else you toss onto the roasting pan (think garlic, herbs and wine). Cooking mushrooms this way is fairly foolproof. The most important thing is that you don’t overcrowd the pan. Mushrooms have a high water content, and when there isn’t enough room for the liquid to evaporate, your mushrooms will be soggy.

In this recipe for roasted mushrooms, I used a variety of mushrooms, as well as a hefty dose of slivered garlic, chopped rosemary, California olive oil, and one of my favorite white wines. Here’s what you’ll need to make them.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of assorted mushrooms, sliced, quartered, or torn into bite sized pieces. Yes, you could use white button mushrooms, but there are many other kinds of mushrooms to try, that have much richer flavors. Look for sh*take, trumpet, oyster, and even crimino, and maetaki varieties. Many national grocers now carry mixed packages of “wild mushrooms.”
• 6 or more fat cloves of garlic, thinly sliced.
• 2-3 tablespoons of good quality, extra virgin olive oil. Mushrooms are very thirsty and will absorb much of this oil, helping to keep them succulent.
• 2-3 tablespoons of chopped leaves from woody herbs like rosemary, thyme or sage (or all three). Be sure to remove any stems
• 1/4 cup of good, dry white wine. Use anything that you love to drink, and especially what you plan to serve with the mushrooms. Here, I used a lush Chenin Blanc from Hope Family Wines, that has just a touch of acid and minerality that perfectly compliments the earthiness of the mushrooms.
• Fresh chives or microgreens to garnish. While roasted mushrooms are delicious, they are very brown. It’s always nice to have a pop of green for bright color and flavor.

You’ll Love This Easy Roasted Mushroom Appetizer Recipe

Of course you could just eat the roasted mushrooms as they are. Or use them to top pasta, or polenta, or buttermilk mashed potatoes. But as the holidays are approaching, I thought I’d turn them into an easy appetizer (or first course) and serve them on roasted polenta rounds. Honestly, the other night we ate these for dinner, along with a bowl of grapes and we were very satisfied. The polenta rounds are so delicious and easy to make!

A Word About Polenta

Polenta is pretty easy to make, but it’s time consuming. Polenta is basically the Northern Italian version of Southern grits. Coarse cornmeal, is cooked with water or broth over about 40-50 minutes, with frequent stirring. The resulting corn “porridge” is perfect for serving with stews and braises.

Leftover polenta, when refrigerated, becomes thick and firm and can be used to cut into squares, cubes or circles and then roasted or pan fried until it becomes crisp.I often take the lazy route (no shame) and buy a tube of pre-cooked polenta. Widely available at most grocery stores, it’s a wonderful time-saving tool (that is naturally gluten free). These tubes can be cut into about 16 rounds, placed on sheet pan, brushed with oil and baked for about 10 minutes a side at 475 °F.

Now Let’s Talk Cheese

Before you top those crisp polenta rounds with the roasted mushrooms, you’ll need a schmear of cheese. In my opinion, the best cheese for the task is Stepladder Creamery Marinated Fromage Blanc. Fromage blanc is soft, fresh cheese that has been marinated in locally sourced (to the Central Coast) olive oil, black peppercorns, bay leaf and a chili pepper. The cheese takes on these flavors and it’s perfect in this dish.

I had the opportunity to visit the Creamery when I was in the Central Coast in September. We took a walk in the woods with their wonderful, loved, and well cared for herd of 55 goats. At Stepladder they take their animal husbandry seriously and they goats were happy, playful, friendly and all had the most adorable names. Owners Michelle and Jack can call all of their goats by name, which impressed the heck out of me, considering I can barely remember the names of my own three children. It’s an operation that I’m proud to support whenever I can.

Stepladder Creamery is available online and at many specialty grocers in Northern and Southern California. If you can’t get your hands on Stepladder Creamery, decent substitutes for the Marinated Fromage Blanc include whipped feta, or herbed goat cheese. But seriously, take a look at what’s inside that jar of Marinated Fromage Blanc. It’s amazing!

Here’s How You Pull Everything Together to Make This Fabulous Roasted Mushroom Appetizer

This easy appetizer has an incredible balance of flavors, textures, and colors and would be perfect at your next gathering. Everything is so simple, from the recipe for roasted mushrooms, to utilizing pre-packaged polenta for the crispy polenta rounds. Its earthy rich flavor is perfect for autumn and winter entertaining, and these are great warm or at room temperature.

Instructions

1. Roast the polenta. Preheat the oven to 475 °F and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Slice the tube of polenta into 16 even slices and place evenly on the prepared pan. Brush with olive oil and place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, flip the slices over and bake for 10 minutes more, or until they are firm and crisp along the edges.
2. Roast the mushrooms. Tear, slice or quarter the mushrooms into bite sized pieces (I do all three so there is a variety of textures) and scatter evenly over a baking sheet that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle the slivered garlic and herbs evenly over everything and drizzle evenly with the olive oil and wine. Toss everything well. I find that using my hands works well for this. Place in the oven with the polenta and bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring once halfway through. When done the mushrooms will have given off their juices, but still be tender with slightly crisp edges. Take care not to overcrowd the pan.
3. Assemble the appetizers. Take a polenta round and spread with a tablespoon or so of Marinated Fromage Blanc. Top with a small mound of the roasted mushrooms, minced chives and microgreens. Arrange on a platter and serve immediately. They are good both warm and room temp, though I do lean towards serving them warm. If needed, you can keep them warm on a tray in a 200 °F oven until ready to serve. If you go that route, garnish immediately before serving so the microgreens don’t wilt. Serve with wine, natch.

Wine + Cheese – A Love Story

As an aside, if you are vising Paso Robles, I highly recommend visiting Hope Family Wines and getting a reservation for their new wine + cheese paring. While there, you’ll enjoy tasting five cheeses from Stepladder Creamery with five Austin Hope wines. There’s a real love story here, and it’s not just wine and cheese. It’s such a wonderful, intimate experience with delicious wines and cheeses, gorgeous views and yes, they were able to make my paring 100% gluten free!

I hope you love this recipe for roasted mushrooms, and the beautiful appetizer that goes along with it. I know that I’ll be serving it all fall & winter long. Cheers!

Looking for more delicious appetizer and first course recipes? We’ve got you covered!

• Fig, Melon, Dukkah Salad
• Dilly Salmon Salad on Cucumber Rounds
• Sugar and Spice Walnuts

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