I was excited to get back to the Small Bites routine this week, after missing the two previous “challenges”.
My idea was to make something like Sedish Meatballs, using mushrooms. Upside–they were really tasty. Downside –they looked awful, but so do Swedish Meatballs. Another problem was they were so difficult to handle to form. They worked as little patties–think sliders without a bun. Well here’s the recipe:
Mushroom Balls/sliders
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 slices white bread, torn into small pieces
1 egg
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup flour
additional olive oil for frying
Heat the olive oil and butter until foam subsides. Add onion and cook on medium heat a few minutes, add garlic for one more minute and then the mushrooms and thyme. Cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally for about 12 minutes—until no more liquid is in the pan. Set aside to cool to room temp.
Chop onion and garlic in food processor.
Add the mushrooms and the rest of the ingredients and pulse several times, scraping down the sides a few times, until mushrooms are finely chopped.
Form small balls (like Swedish meatball size). They’re very delicate so just do your best. Roll them in the flour and fry in a nonstick pan, over medium heat for about 3 minutes a side. They turned into little “slider” shapes so I had 2 sides to fry.
Throw some chopped fresh parsley on top and serve immediately.
Makes about 16.
They’re very light and I didn’t mind the lack of sauce, at all. Each one is about 2 bites.

What can be done to make them prettier?