Recipe of the Week: Warm Mushroom Crostini

Easy and impressive.  You can make the topping in advance, so all you have to do is cut and toast the bread, then bake it with the topping when you’re ready to serve.  These babies will make you seem like a serious cook, and you can be chilling with a beer, making it look easy.

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter
8 oz fresh shiitake* mushrooms, stemmed, caps chopped

8 oz oyster* mushrooms, chopped
8 oz crimini* mushrooms, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped prosciutto
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Salt and fresh cracked black pepper
One baguette, about 24 inches, cut obliquely into ½-inch slices (should give about 36 wide slices with a couple of oblique buts)

*You can substitute an equal weight of standard white button mushrooms for any of these.  the flavor just won't be as rich.

Melt the butter in a deep pan (or pot) over medium heat, add all the mushrooms (it’ll look like a ton, but they cook down), stir frequently until the mushrooms give up all their liquid and start to brown.  Add garlic and prosciutto, cook another minute or two (don’t burn the garlic).  Add the cream and stir until it bubbles.  Turn off the heat and add the cheese, stirring until it’s smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste, then set aside (you can keep it in the fridge for up to a few days).  Toast the bread in the oven (375F for 5-7 minutes, don’t let it get too brown or it will burn in the next step).  Spread the mushroom mix evenly on each piece of bread, and put back into oven until heated through.  Arrange artfully on a platter.  Tell any ladies present that you occasionally cry when you listen to Ray LaMontagne songs.  Drown in pussy.  Thank me later.