Last night my friend and I decided to make the Mediterranean Stuffed Aubergines that I posted last year some time. We headed to Sainsbury’s to get all the ingredients and as we were about to leave, realised we forgot one thing… the aubergines. Oops. So back the veggie section we went… only to discover that they were out of aubergines. Just a big, empty crate where they should have been. Crap.

So there we were, with a basket full of ingredients to make stuffed aubergines (minus the aubergines) and no way we could make them. Now what? I thought about stuffing the courgettes instead but they’re just a bit too small for such a feat. So casting my eyes down the aisle, I spotted some portobello mushrooms and quickly tried to adjust the recipe in my head to see if it could work. We decided to risk it, added the mushrooms to our basket along with some leeks and headed home.

I made the filling in much the same way as the aubergine dish but subbed the onion for a leek, lost the basil and pine nuts and obviously, didn’t have aubergine. The result was surprisingly good! I’ve never seen mushrooms stuffed this way but it works, I promise. We ate ours with a side of home-made garlic and herb bread, one of my ultimate weaknesses.

And what did I learn from this experience? Next time I’m at the shops stocking up on items for a particular recipe, make sure they have the main ingredient first.

Courgette & Leek Stuffed Mushrooms

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 Portobello mushrooms, stems removed
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
1 courgette, diced
6-8 baby plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 a lemon
Pepper to season

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line medium baking tray with foil. Brush base of mushrooms with oil and set aside.

2. Slice leek lengthways, rinse thoroughly and slice into 1cm pieces. Heat remaining oil in large frying pan on high heat then add leeks, stirring for 3-4 minutes, until starting to brown.

3. Add garlic and chilli to pan and stir for 2 minutes. Add courgette and fry until starting to brown. Add tomatoes and squeeze the juice from the lemon over the mix, then reduce hob to lowest heat and sauté for 6-8 minutes until all ingredients softened.

4. Remove from heat and scoop mixture into prepared mushrooms. Season with pepper and bake in oven for 10-12 minutes, until mushrooms have softened.

5. Remove from oven and use large slotted spatula to move  to serving plates, making sure to drain any excess liquid from the mushrooms.

Enjoy!