Mushrooms Stuffed with Crabmeat & Gruyere

These stuffed mushrooms are restaurant-caliber appetizers with a real showstopper technique: the caps get sauteed in butter, then doused with dry sherry and flambeed before stuffing. That brief flame burns off the alcohol and concentrates the sherry’s nutty, caramel flavor right into the mushroom.

The filling is a thick bechamel loaded with half a pound of flaked crabmeat, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, and parsley. Cooking the flour into the butter for a full three minutes before adding milk eliminates any raw flour taste and builds a proper roux. The finished mixture should be as thick as stuffing, not runny. If it’s too loose, the filling will melt out of the caps during baking.

Each cap gets a generous tablespoon of filling mounded on top, sprinkled with grated Gruyere, and baked until the cheese is bubbling and golden. Serve them hot, straight from the oven.

Chef Tips

• Pick through the crabmeat carefully. Even “picked” crab often has small shell fragments that are unpleasant to bite into.
• Cool the filling completely before stuffing the caps. Hot filling is too soft to mound properly and will slide right off.
• When flambeeing the sherry, tilt the pan slightly toward the flame or use a long match. Keep your face and hands clear. The flame is brief but dramatic.
• Don’t overcrowd the baking sheet. The mushrooms release moisture during baking, and touching caps steam instead of crisping.

Variations

• Use baby bella or cremini mushrooms for a meatier, more flavorful cap than white button.
• Swap crabmeat for cooked chopped shrimp or lobster for a different seafood filling.
• Skip the flambe if you’re not comfortable with it. Just add the sherry to the hot pan and let it cook off.