crunchy bits

One of the first raw books I ever purchased was Living On live Food by Alissa Cohen.  At a friend’s party I couldn’t get enough of a dip she had made and had no idea it was even raw! Turns out it was the Mock Salmon Pate in Alissa’s book. It is still a favorite. Alissa did it again with her Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms. These little morsels are amazing and you would never know they weren’t cooked. Serving them right out of the dehydrator, they are warm and divine with their bready stuffing. I would double this recipe if you are sharing!

You will need 18-22 button mushrooms, washed and stemmed. Save the stems for an upcoming recipe!

Stuffing

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 2 cups fresh basil
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Blend all stuffing ingredients in food processor until smooth.
2. Scoop small amount of stuffing into each mushroom cap.
3. Dehydrate at 105 for 5-6 hours or until soft.

As they dehydrate, the mushroom caps absorb some of the oil and give a cooked appearance as well as softening the caps.

I usually have extra pesto leftover that I can then add water to for a dressing or I will also use it to mix with steamed veggies for the kids for dinner. Myself, I love pesto, so I eat it right off the spoon as well!

I think my favorite part of this whole recipe is seeing Gatlin sneaking into the pantry and reaching way up high (for him) into the dehydrator for a mushroom. River is not as big of a fan but does love pesto on veggies. My husband, Dan loves these almost as much as Gatlin!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 10:45 am and is filed under appetizers, herbs, light meal, raw food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.