(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - I love an appetizer that looks like I tried really hard to make it, but actually it was super simple.

Today we're making a mushroom brie bake.

It's wrapped in puff pastry.

It's gooey.

There's mushrooms hidden inside.

Let's get started.

For this recipe, you'll need eight ounces of brown mushrooms.

They can be crimini.

They can be baby bellas.

I'm just going to do a nice thin slice on each one of these mushrooms.

The secret ingredient today is balsamic vinegar.

When balsamic vinegar cooks, it gets sweeter, and that's what makes this dish so, so special.

This looks like a massive pile of mushrooms.

It is, but when you cook mushrooms down, they release a lot of moisture, and they shrink in volume.

And so you'll see this ends up being just the right amount of mushrooms.

I have one shallot here.

We always strive for even cuts so that everything cooks at the same pace.

First we'll add 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter.

Now the mushrooms go in.

Salting at the beginning draws out moisture, and we can still get a nice brown on them.

Once they start to release some of their juices, then I will add the shallots.

Once the mushrooms have shrunk, it's time to add our final few ingredients.

So first we'll add three garlic cloves microplaned right into here.

If you don't have a Microplane, you can just mince them.

I have three sprigs of thyme.

Rough chop.

Thyme goes in.

When the garlic is microplaned or minced like this, it does not need a ton of time to cook.

So I have this on a very low temperature.

Let's season this with some pepper, teeny bit more salt, and finally the balsamic vinegar.

Now let's assemble.

I have a 16-ounce wheel of brie.

This is quite large.

Usually you'll find them in eight-ounce sizes.

Because I want people to get straight into the cheesiness of the brie, I'm going to trim off the top part of the rind.

All that takes is a sharp knife, being very careful, just like that.

Now we'll very carefully pile all of these mushrooms, which have cooled slightly, right on top.

By the time they've cooled, they almost start to stick to each other.

That's exactly what we want.

Gorgeous already, but we have to prep our puff pastry.

I have one sheet of puff pastry here.

It's already floured.

I'm just going to stretch it out a little bit more so that it can fully wrap around this brie wheel.

Take the puff pastry, put it right on top like a blanket.

Okay, now flip it over.

And now wrap it up.

The benefit of doing it this way is that it pretty much guarantees that none of the cheese will come oozing out from the seams.

If it does, that's totally fine.

So just take a few extra moments to pinch any seams.

We'll transfer it to our baking sheet.

And I've prepared an egg wash, which is just one egg scrambled with a tablespoon of water.

At this point, I want to gently score the brie to give it a little bit of dimension.

This goes into the oven 425 degrees for about 20 minutes until it's nice golden brown, a little puffed, and then we can enjoy it.

Look at how beautiful our mushroom brie bake came out.

It puffed up a little bit.

Our little scoring artwork turned out beautifully.

We'll transfer it to our serving plate.

And here I have some crackers.

This is also great with a baguette.

Let's cut into this to see how it turned out.

Okay.

Beautifully melted brie with the mushrooms, and now all that's left to do is eat.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Mushrooms might be small, but they pack a big nutritional punch.

They bring a savory flavor to dishes like pizza and pasta but are low in calories and sodium.

That reduces the need for extra salt, keeping your blood pressure down.

Mushrooms contain antioxidants that can lower the risk of cancer.

And mushrooms exposed to UV light have strong levels of vitamin D, helping your body build strong bones.