Simple Stuffed Mushrooms with Minced Pork-- fancy dinner?

I know, I know -- it was Memorial Day yesterday, and I should have posted something about grilling. The fact is, we did have an awesome BBQ event in Wooster square: from a delicate salad with pomegranate to freshly baked bread to a 2 lb turkey drumstick to numerous hotdogs and hamburgers and kebabs to home-made  graham crackers and marshmallows among a gazillion awesome things. Unfortunately though, all of us were too busy consuming, and none of us took any foodie pictures!

So I'm here to talk about something else: stuffed mushrooms. Just slightly a different vibe, but I guarantee you'll like it!

Compared to the common stuffed mushroom recipe, this version (without the cheese, olive oil, etc) is much simpler, and perhaps a bit healthier (especially with the addition of carrot). I still haven't figure out a way to make the "after" picture look better without transferring them to a new dish -- the mushroom juice was running everywhere!

Simple Stuffed Mushrooms with Minced Pork

serves 4 as appetizer, 2 as main

• 8 large mushroom caps
• 3/4 cup minced pork (preferably of pork belly)
• 1/4 cup minced carrot (about 1/2 medium carrot)
• 1 Tbsp minced onion
• 1/2 tsp cajun seasoning (or other blend to your taste)
• salt & pepper to taste
• celery leaves (garnish)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix together the pork, carrot, onion, and cajun seasoning.
3. In a non-stick skillet, sauté the pork mixture for about 5 minutes, over medium heat. If using a leaner cut, add some olive oil to the pan before cooking. 
4. In each mushroom cap, put about 2 Tbsp of minced pork mixture in.
5. Sprinkle with salt & pepper; add some chopped up celery leaves if you'd like.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes. 

Of course you can easily substitute the pork belly for a leaner meat (beef, turkey, chicken), or even turn it into vegetarian (with crumbled frozen tofu or zucchini). I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!