Mushroom and Cheddar Stuffed Onions

One of the biggest challenges in being restricted to an ultra-low-carb diet is side dishes. I used to rely on rice, pasta, or potatoes to fill out a plate, but those aren't really options any longer. Lord knows there is an incredible variety of vegetables, but even so I find myself stuck in a rut after a while.

This is a recipe from Eating Well, and it was just different enough that I couldn't resist trying it. And it was pretty darn tasty, too! Next time I'll probably add more cheese because we are big fans of cheese around here, but there definitely will be a next time.

The ingredients are pretty simple. One large sweet onion (I can't wait to try these with either Vidalia or Candy onion!), mushrooms, shallots (I used a regular onion because I forgot to buy shallots), garlic, cheddar, whole wheat bread for crumbs, and some wine and seasonings. What's funny for me is the recipe actually calls for the baby bellas (cremini mushrooms) I love, but this time around I bought regular white mushrooms. You never know what I'm going to do!

This is actually the second step, but whatever. First, you cut the sweet onion in half and put both halves in a pot of water to boil. Once you can easily separate the layers, you remove the four outer (largest) layers from each half and set them on a plate. Then continue boiling the rest of the onion until it gets soft. After you pull the insides out of the pot, you're supposed to return the outer layers to the boiling water one at a time until they're soft. Mine were already soft enough to work with, so I skipped that step so I didn't overcook them to mush.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and saute the shallots and garlic for a few minutes until they're soft (be careful not to burn the garlic, it's easy to do). Make sure the skillet you use for this is large enough to hold all the ingredients you'll be adding to it.

When you've chopped the mushrooms, add them to the skillet with some salt, pepper, and wine and saute, stirring pretty frequently, until the mushrooms are tender and all of the liquid has evaporated. Be patient, this will actually happen. Once the liquid starts to evaporate it goes very quickly.

After that, add some of the fresh sage and cook just 30 seconds, enough to start releasing the flavour of the sage into the mushroom mixture.

In a large bowl, mix together the mushroom mixture, breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce (I used Tapatio, the recipe calls for Tabasco... use whatever makes you happy). Then chop the inside parts of the sweet onion and stir them in. This makes your stuffing.

*To make fresh breadcrumbs, you're supposed to cut the crust off whole wheat bread and pulse it in a food processor until it forms crumbs, then spread them out on a cookie sheet and bake at 250F for 15-20 minutes.

I don't do that. I put bread in my mini chopper crust and all and pulse until it forms fine crumbs, and then I just use it as it is. It's always worked for me, and sometimes it's helpful to have bread crumbs that aren't dry as it makes it easier to form.

Moving on... The directions say to stuff the onion layers while holding them in your hand, then spoon some of the filling into them and form it with your fingers as you roll the onion around it. I found that was the perfect method. Whatever works for you, they should end up filled but not overflowing, and you should have about exactly how much stuffing you need for you eight layers of onion while still allowing the onion to overlap and completely enclose the stuffing.

I used a 9x9-inch pan, and they fit about perfectly. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray, and place the onions seam side down in the pan. Then you brush the tops with olive oil and sprinkle with the rest of your fresh chopped sage.

They look almost exactly the same when they come out of the oven as they did when they went in. The onions do get a little golden brown, but the olive oil prevents the sage from drying out or burning. And of course the cheese inside the filling melts, leaving you with a really delightful side dish. The recipe says to serve two onions to each person, but we just did one since we also had another side dish with our entree.

Mushroom & Cheddar Stuffed Onions

Serves 4

1 large sweet onion (about 1 pound)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, very finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
1/4 cup dry sherry or dry white wine
4 teaspoons chopped fresh sage, divided
3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar
3/4 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs, preferably whole-wheat (see Tip)
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, preferably vegan
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

This recipe comes from Eating Well, which is an excellent resource for dieters regardless of their reason for dieting.

Per Serving:

Calories: 265

Fat: 13 g

Saturated Fat: 7 g

Cholesterol: 30 mg

Carbohydrates: 25 g

Fiber: 3 g

Sugars: 0 g

Protein: 10 g

Sodium: 393 mg

I served these with some butternut squash (simply baked, then mashed with butter, salt and pepper) and some marinated steaks (from Omaha Steaks, my marinade recipe). It made the perfect meal, with a decent combination of colours and textures.