Cuban Coastal Smoky Tomato-Roasted Mushrooms

About This Recipe

This starter takes cremini mushrooms and roasts them in a thick, smoky tomato sauce built the same way a Cuban fisherman's sofrito comes together - onion and garlic cooked down slow, tomato reduced until jammy, and a good pinch of smoked paprika standing in for the char you'd get from an open coastal grill. Roasting rather than stewing the mushrooms is what sets this apart: tossed in the sauce and roasted uncovered at high heat, they release their liquid and then reabsorb the thickened sauce, concentrating flavor instead of diluting it the way a covered simmer would.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1.5 lbcremini mushrooms(halved)
• 3 tbspolive oil(divided)
• 1onion(diced)
• 4 clovesgarlic(minced)
• 1 can (15 oz)crushed tomatoes
• 1 tspsmoked paprika
• 0.5 tspground cumin
• 1 tspfine sea salt
• 2 tbspchopped parsley
• 1lime(cut into wedges)

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the sauce base

   Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in an oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Cook onion 6-7 minutes until soft, then stir in garlic, smoked paprika and cumin for 1 minute.

2. 2

   Add tomato

   Stir in crushed tomatoes and salt. Simmer uncovered 10 minutes until thickened and jammy.

3. 3

   Preheat and toss mushrooms

   Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Toss mushrooms with remaining 1 tbsp olive oil, then fold them into the tomato sauce in the skillet.

4. 4

   Roast

   Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast uncovered 20-25 minutes, stirring once, until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce has thickened around them.

   Roasting uncovered lets the liquid the mushrooms release evaporate back down instead of thinning the sauce.

5. 5

   Finish

   Remove from oven, taste for salt, and finish with chopped parsley and a squeeze of lime before serving warm with crusty bread.

Variations

• •

  Add a splash of dry sherry to the sauce before roasting for extra depth.

• •

  Top with crumbled queso fresco just before serving for a creamy, salty contrast.

• •

  Use a mix of mushroom varieties, like oyster and shiitake, for more textural variety.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 3 days in an airtight container. Reheat in a skillet over medium heat rather than the microwave to keep the sauce from turning watery.

Frequently Asked Questions