Lekker Brekker Monday: Brown mushrooms stuffed with labneh, cheese and red onion

Labneh is a simple curd cheese made by straining plain yoghurt to remove most of its whey. It has a similar quality to cream cheese, which is made from milk and cream.

I had thought of popping to the shops for a tub of cream cheese, but then remembered that I had labneh in the fridge. A quick taste convinced me that its delicate cheesy flavour would be a great core ingredient for a stuffing for the brown mushrooms I was going to turn into breakfast.

A small red onion was chopped and fried until softly golden. I wanted the mixture to have a hit of mustard, but my Hot English was out. Instead, I used Dijonnaise, a delicious blend of Dijon mustard and honey. I love this product. A generous heaped teaspoon of it was stirred into the cooked red onion, along with some fresh oregano leaves.

Other than that, I added a cup of grated Cheddar cheese, which I stirred in while the heat melted it into the mixture. Other than that, all we needed was the mushrooms and some simple seasoning.

I used six brown mushrooms as they were not overly big. Or use four larger ones.

The mushrooms need to be par-cooked before they’re filled, or they will not be sufficiently cooked when it’s time to serve your breakfast.

Tony’s brown mushrooms stuffed with labneh, red onion and grated cheese

Ingredients

4 to 6 brown mushrooms

1 small red onion, or ½ of one, finely chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil and more for the mushrooms

1 heaped tsp Dijonnaise (or mix 1 scant tsp each of mustard and honey)

1 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves

1 cup labneh

1 cup grated Cheddar or other meltable cheese

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Peel the red onion and chop it up. 

Heat a little olive oil in a pan and add the onion. Saute, stirring, until soft and turning golden.

Stir in the mustard and oregano leaves.

Add the labneh and stir until well combined (i.e. no white streaks).

Add the grated cheese and stir over a low heat until the cheese has melted into the mixture.

Season with salt and black pepper and stir.

Using a dessert spoon, carefully scoop out the stem of each mushroom. Discard. They’re simply in the way of where you want the filling to go, and mushroom stems have a stalky texture which isn’t great.

Preheat an air fryer to 200°C, or heat up a regular grill.

Turn the mushrooms over and brush the caps with olive oil.

Place them cap (round) side up (i.e. the hollow sides down) in the preheated air fryer and grill until they have released a lot of their juices, about 7 minutes.

Shake out any juices that remain in them when you turn them over. 

Spoon in the filling, piling it high and pushing it down a little with the back of a spoon.

Grill until the top of the fillings turns golden in places.

Serve with toast. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.