Truffle and Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) and line a large tray with baking paper.
2. Wipe the mushrooms clean. Twist out the stalks and keep them. Trim the dry end off each stalk and chop the rest as finely as you can.
3. Rub the caps all over with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season them inside and out. Sit them gill-side down on the tray and roast for 10 minutes.
4. While they roast, put the panko, pesto, Parmesan, chopped stalks, thyme and lemon zest in a bowl with the tablespoon of oil. Rub it together with your fingers until it looks like damp, loose crumbs. If it clumps into a paste, add another handful of panko. Season with pepper and go easy on the salt, because the pesto and the cheese are both salty already.
5. Take the tray out. Turn the caps over with tongs and tip the liquid off the tray into the sink. There will be more of it than you expect. This is the step that decides whether the top crisps.
6. Divide the crumb between the eight caps, mounding it up and pressing it down gently so it holds together. Do not pack it tight or it bakes into a lid.
7. Roast for another 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are properly golden and the edge of a cap gives when you press it.
8. Rest them on the tray for 5 minutes. They come out molten and they eat better warm than hot.
9. Squeeze over the lemon juice, scatter the parsley, add a thread of olive oil and a last grind of pepper. Serve straight from the tray or lift them onto a warm platter.

Making them ahead, and what to do with the rest

The crumb can be made two days ahead and kept covered in the fridge, and the first roast on the caps can be done that morning and left on the tray on the bench. Filling and finishing is then 15 minutes with the oven already hot, which is the part that matters when the rest of lunch is competing for the same oven.

What does not work is assembling the whole tray raw and leaving it. The oil in the pesto weeps down through the crumb and the top bakes flat instead of crisp, so fill within about 20 minutes of the second roast. Leftover crumb keeps three days and is very good pressed onto bagel toasts and grilled for two minutes, or scattered over pasta with a little of the pasta water.

Three questions we get about this one

What is truffle pesto?

Truffle pesto is a jarred sauce built the way pesto is built, but with truffle in the lead instead of basil. This one blends black summer truffle with artichoke, aged Parmigiano Reggiano and olive oil, so it reads savoury and creamy rather than herbaceous. Use it where you would otherwise reach for butter and cheese: through mash, on a steak sandwich, stirred into risotto at the end, or as the seasoning in a crumb.

What mushrooms are best for stuffing?

Large field or flat mushrooms, 8cm to 10cm across. The cup is deep enough to hold a real mound of filling and the cap is sturdy enough to move in one piece. Portobellos are the same mushroom sold at a bigger size and work just as well. Swiss browns and buttons are too small and too domed to stuff, so keep those for chopped fillings.

Can you prepare stuffed mushrooms in advance?

Partly, and the split is worth getting right. Make the crumb up to two days ahead and give the caps their first roast in the morning. Do not fill them and leave them sitting, because the pesto's oil sinks into the crumb and you lose the crisp top. Assemble and roast within 20 minutes of serving and they behave.

The jar is most of the shopping list. A 165g jar of truffle and artichoke pesto costs under $13 and will do this tray, a bowl of mash and a week of sandwiches. Buying it as a present rather than for yourself, the Belazu Signature Pesto Gift Set puts it alongside three others for $55, and the rest of the Belazu range is worth a look while you are there. For more truffle than one jar can carry, the truffle products shelf runs to a risotto kit and truffle condiments from Borgo de Medici. If you would rather send food than cook it, our Christmas hampers are packed by hand in Corio, Victoria. Shipping is free Australia-wide over $100, and orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day.