The Georgian all-in-one baked mushrooms are the dinner of the set, built in one pan and served in the dish they bake in: an onion softened in 40 g of foaming butter, 700 g of sliced champignons salted right away — salt pulls their water out now, and ten minutes on the heat cooks it off until the pile halves and the pan runs dry — then 300 g of ham in strips for ten more. Everything tips into one dish under 150 g of mozzarella and bakes 15 minutes at 180 °C, purely for the top. In Georgia it would be a ketsi under sulguni; mozzarella stretches the same way, and the browned cheese edge runs the whole rim. Serves 3.
Instructions
- 1
Halve the onion first — the skin comes off in one piece — and dice it small.
- 2
Slice the mushrooms and cut the ham into strips.
- 3
Melt the butter in a hot pan; once it foams, it’s hot enough. The onion goes in first, 5 minutes until soft and sweet.
05:00 - 4
Add the mushrooms with the black pepper and salt right away, not at the end — salt pulls the water out now, and 10 minutes on the heat cooks it off.
10:00 - 5
When the pile has halved and the pan is dry, add the ham and cook 10 minutes more.
10:00 - 6
Tip everything into one baking dish — in Georgia, a ketsi — and cover it with the grated mozzarella.
- 7
Bake 15 minutes at 180 °C / 350 °F. Everything is cooked already; the oven is only for the top. Serve it in the dish.
15:00
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Notes from our kitchen
Salting with the mushrooms instead of at the end is the whole architecture: the salt pulls their water out while the pan is hot enough to evaporate it, so there’s no puddle hiding under the cheese later. Watch the pile — 700 g shrinks by half, and the dry pan is your cue for the ham. The bake is cosmetic by design: everything is already cooked, so pull it the moment the cheese edge browns at the rim.
Variations
- Closer to Georgia. If you can find sulguni, use it — the brined Georgian cheese is the original lid, saltier and with the same dramatic stretch. A mix of mozzarella for pull and a little feta for salt lands surprisingly near it.
- Meatless dinner. Drop the ham and add a second onion plus a handful more mushrooms — the butter, the dry-pan discipline and the cheese lid carry the dish. A pinch of smoked paprika stands in for the ham’s savor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the salt go in with the mushrooms and not at the end?
Because here water is the enemy, and salt is the tool: added early, it pulls the mushrooms’ moisture out while the pan is hot enough to evaporate it — ten minutes and the pile has halved, the pan is dry. Salt at the end and that water stays inside, ready to pool under the cheese in the oven.
What makes it Georgian?
The format: in Georgia mushrooms are baked and served in a ketsi — a small clay pan — under a lid of sulguni, the stretchy brined cheese. This is that dish translated to a regular baking dish and mozzarella, which pulls the same way. The oven-to-table serving is part of the recipe.
Why does it only bake 15 minutes?
Because nothing in the dish is raw — the onion, mushrooms and ham are fully cooked in the pan. The oven’s only job is the top: melting the mozzarella into one lid and browning the cheese edge that runs the whole rim. Longer just dries out what’s underneath.
Can I assemble it ahead?
Perfectly — cook the filling, pack it into the dish, top with cheese and refrigerate up to 2 days. Bake straight from the fridge at 180 °C, adding about 5 minutes. Baked leftovers reheat best in the oven so the cheese re-melts instead of toughening.
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