Chanterelle mustard cream toast
Pro tip:
Adding pickled mustard seeds on top cuts the rich, creamy mustard sauce and freshens up the overall flavor of the toast!
One of my favorite Food Network shows Restaurant Impossible with Chef Robert Irvine. He would come into a failing restaurant and not only try to fix their menu, decor, and finances - but he’d also usually be saving a marriage or two and bringing a family back together. Tears were shed, voices were raised, sleep was missed. It was drama filled, mildly inappropriate, and just the best.
Robert Irvine is notorious for dancing when he tastes his food and I definitely had a happy mushroom toast dance after I tasted this recipe! In Sweden, chanterelle mushrooms are foraged at the end of summer through early Winter and they are in such abundance. My Aunt Karin sent me a photo of their recent forage and it took over an entire circular dining room table. In California, after the second full rain of the season, chanterelles start to pop up in the North (Oregon Coast, Mendocino County) and make there way down South. You can find chanterelles all around the Bay if you know where to go (and if someone will tell you, haha).
This dish was inspired by a plate I had at Bar Agrikultur in Stockholm over the summer that consisted of baby chanterelles, charred greens, lingonberries, a mustard cream sauce, and dill crowns. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and thought I would recreate it but layer everything on top of a crusty slice of local sourdough (as one does in San Francisco) and swap the lingonberries for in season pomegranate seeds. The result? Flavor explosion - dance worthy.
This recipe will make 2-4 chanterelle toasts depending on if you’re serving as an appetizer or a light lunch.
Chanterelles
10 ounces cleaned chanterelles (fresh or dried - if using dried, reconstitute in warm water for 15 minutes and pat dry) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tbs butter
flakey sea salt
Mustard Cream Sauce
1/4 cup finely minced shallots
1 finely chopped clove of garlic 3 cup water
1 1/4th to 1 1/2 cup of heavy cream
1.5 to 2 tbs dijon mustard
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs butter
salt and pepper to taste
Additional Toppings
2-4 slices of sourdough bread
1 cup raddichio leaves, separated
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
Fresh dill sprigs
Optional: 1 tsp pickled mustard seeds per toast
Instructions:
Using a dry brush, gently clean the gills of the chanterelles and remove and slight dirt or debris. You can also get a damp cloth or paper towel and wipe the mushrooms clean. Chop into 1/2 inch sized pieces. I like to avoid submersing fully in water and keeping them as dry as possible while cleaning!
Heat a pan to medium high heat and melt butter. Add chopped mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes or until just done. Sprinkle with sea salt and set aside in a bowl.
In the same pan, add additional 1 tbsp butter or olive oil on high heat and once very hot, add the leaves of the raddichio the pan. Let cook for 1-2 minutes (you can check one to see if it’s getting blistered / burned) and flip each piece over to char the other side. This whole process will be super fast and you want a char on these leaves, so high heat and burned edges are your friend! Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
Mince shallot and garlic and sauté in butter in a small saucepan. Add heavy cream and mustard and whisk together quickly bringing to a low boil for 3-5 minutes as it thickens. Add 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of cracked black pepper and stir again. Remove from heat and add lemon zest and lemon juice. Set aside.
Chop your green onion, and if necessary, harvest your pomegranate seeds.
Toast 2-4 slices of sourdough bread. While toasting, add the mushrooms into the cream sauce and briefly reheat for 1-2 minutes.
Top the toast with charred raddichio leaves and1/4th to 1/2 half cup of the mustard cream / mushroom mixture. Top with green onions, more raddichio if you’d like, fresh dill, 1 tbs of pomegranate seeds, and 1 teaspoon of pickled mustard seeds (optional).
Serve immediately!
Visit my Instagram page for a video on how I made this - there are a few pieces to the puzzle but if you prep everything individually, the toast comes together quickly.
Hope you enjoy 🍓
Amelia
