Sausage Stuffed Portabellas in Mushroom Gravy

Too much tomato sauce! Ron begged me for mushroom sauce, and I happily complied. I was craving mushrooms, and we had two large Portabellas to stuff and grill, plus Criminis for the sauce.

I decided to use the opportunity of an open afternoon to make a new sausage for the stuffing.

The Spicy Italian Sausage recipe was developed originally by Julie Hasson and I found it on the web at Everyday Dish TV.

Of course I modified it!

Ron doesn't call me his Custom Blend Girl for no reason!

Let's start with the recipe:

SPICY ITALIAN VEGETARIAN SAUSAGES

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups vital wheat gluten


1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 cup textured vegetable protein
2 Tbsp Mrs. Dash Chicken Seasoning
1 Tbsp onion
powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp fennel seed, toasted and crushed 

2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp ground paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 1/4 cups water 

2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

METHOD:

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the water and soy sauce and using a fork. Stir into the dry mixture just until combined – don’t overmix.

If mixture is too dry, add water as needed by the tablespoon.
Tear eight 14” long pieces of aluminum foil and set aside.

With your hands, take about 1/2 cup of the mixture and shape into a sausage. Place sausage on a piece of aluminum foil and roll up, twisting the ends. Repeat for each sausage.

Steam sausages for 30 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool. Remove sausages from foil and

refrigerate until ready to eat.

I made a half recipe, ending up with four sausages, each 4.5" long and 1.5" thick.

The photo is a bit heavy on the yellows; the sausages actually appear in color similar to the fully loaded pork version!

Okay. So now you've got the yummy foundation for your grilled Portabella stuffing.

What's next?

Prep your Portabellas!

Some chefs prefer to marinate the mushrooms in a red wine, balsamic vinegar and herb mixture. But I went naked for this recipe!

Next: make the gravy!

CREAMY MUSHROOM GRAVY

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup shallots, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

6 oz. crimini (brown) mushrooms, chopped

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or herbes de provence

2 cup low sodium vegetable broth

2 Tbsp soy sour cream

4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten, as needed

1/4 teaspoon ground sage

Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 oz. soy mozzarella, grated

METHOD:

In a shallow pan, saute shallots and garlic in white wine until soft. Add mushrooms (and additional white wine if necessary) and saute until soft. Add herbs.

In a small bowl, whisk together vegetable broth and soy sour cream. Add to mushroom mixture and bring to a simmer while whisking in sage and pepper.

At this point, if the gravy is not thickening, whisk in vital wheat gluten, one teaspoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.

Whisk in soy mozzarella and bring to a low boil.

Serve immediately over your scrumptious Italian Sausage Stuffed Grilled Portabellas!