Skillet Mushrooms with Melted Cheese and Thyme
Sliced mushrooms under a layer of melting cheese, cooked in one pan at camp.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 55
- protein
- 14 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 8 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 18 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Snack
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Mushrooms | about 12 oz | portobello or cremini, sliced thin at home |
|---|---|---|
| Low-moisture mozzarella | 8 oz | torn or cubed; the block kind, not fresh balls in water |
| Thyme | 1 tsp dried, or a sprig of fresh | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Set a skillet over the grate or a low flame and add the oil.
- Lay the mushrooms in as close to one layer as the pan allows. Leave them alone for three or four minutes so they brown instead of steam.
- Stir once, season with salt and pepper, and cook another three minutes until the water they release has cooked off.
- Scatter the cheese over the top and add the thyme. Cover with a lid or a sheet of foil.
- Two or three minutes off to the side of the fire, until the cheese has gone soft and stringy. Eat straight from the pan.
The original is an oven dish: raw mushrooms under a broiler until the cheese bubbles. Camp has no broiler, so the work moves to a skillet, and the order changes. Mushrooms are mostly water. Broiling drives that water off upward; a covered pan traps it, and you end up with cheese floating on mushroom liquid. So the mushrooms get browned dry first, and the cheese only goes on at the end.
Fresh mozzarella balls are also out. They carry too much water for a cooler and release it all into the pan. Low-moisture block mozzarella melts the same way and holds up for days on ice. Thyme is the only seasoning that matters here, and dried works fine since it sits in hot oil long enough to open up.
Packing
Slice the mushrooms at home and pack them in a paper bag inside the cooler; plastic sweats and turns them slimy. Cheese goes in the cooler too, wrapped tight.
Variations
- Tortillas or crackers on the side turn it from a side dish into dinner.
- Provolone or a young cheddar melt about the same. Aged cheese separates into oil.
- No cooler? Swap in rehydrated dried mushrooms and a shelf-stable cheese product.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/cookbook-of-the-month-recipe-sliced-mushrooms-with-melted-mozzarella-and-thyme