Crostini with Mushrooms, Prosciutto & Blue Cheese

Crostini with Mushrooms, Prosciutto & Blue Cheese

This is one terrific appetizer. It can be made earlier in the day and assembled and roasted before serving. To prepare fresh mushrooms, first trim off the bottoms of the stems, and then wipe them off.  Do not rinse them or soak them because they will absorb water and turn mushy when you cook them. Crimini mushrooms are marketed under many names, including Baby Bella, Italian or Brown mushrooms. They are similar in size to white mushrooms but are a light cocoa color and have a firmer texture. They are much more flavorful than white mushrooms, having a richer, earthy taste. Portobello mushrooms are actually large crimini mushrooms. In its fresh form, the shitake mushroom has a rich, buttery, meaty flavor quite unlike the flavors of other mushroom varieties. The shitake's texture is also different from other mushrooms. A fresh shitake is approximately 75% water; considerably lower water content than that of of cousins. Less water accounts for shitakes firm-even chewy-texture and intense flavor. If you cannot locate fresh shitakes mushrooms for this recipe, use of crimini mushrooms would work as a substitute.

Crimini mushrooms

Shitaki mushrooms

Melt 3 Tb butter in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add ½ lb fresh shitake mushrooms, stemmed and caps chopped and 4 oz chopped crimini mushrooms. Sauté until they are cooked through and brown, about 10 minutes. Just before it is finished, add 2 minced garlic cloves. Add ½ C cream and boil until the liquid is completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add ½ C crumbled bleu cheese (about 2 oz) and stir until cheese melts. Mix in ½ C chopped thinly sliced prosciutto (about 2½ oz). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chopped mushroom

Sauteed mushrooms

Transfer the mushroom topping to a bowl.  It can be made 1 day ahead of time. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F. Cut about 18 ½ inch thick diagonal slices from 1 sourdough baguette. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet. Bake until just golden, about 5 minutes.  Mound 1 generous tablespoon mushroom topping on each slice. Return to the oven; bake until topping is heating through, about 6 minutes.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Larue