Truffled Mushroom Toast with Lemon Zest and Chives

Golden brown mushrooms are infused with black truffle oil and lemon juice and zest before being piled onto garlic rubbed toast and topped with fresh chives and shredded Grana Padano cheese in this tasty toast. The umami level is off the chain! But all the richness is balanced with bright and acidic lemon juice, pops of lemon zest, and earthy chives (oh and some crushed red pepper flakes because I can’t resist!).

Flavor on flavor – this is the kind of toast that I constantly crave and keep coming back to.

This recipe could not be easier – like any good toast. Everything comes together in about 10-15 minutes. Perhaps the most important step is getting the mushrooms nice and brown. They are heated in a pan with plenty of butter for moisture until thoroughly seared on the first side. No need to baby them or constantly stir. In fact, leaving them to cook results in a perfect golden brown sear that really enhances their flavor while keeping the texture meaty and not soggy. Then lemon juice is added and they are stirred and flipped to brown the other side.

While all this goodness is going on, the toast is crisping right on the rack in the hot oven (or toaster oven, if you have it) after being lightly coated in some cooking oil. When the shrooms are ready, the toast is removed from the oven and given a good rub down with a raw garlic clove. This little trick gives the perfect amount of garlic flavor! The heat of the toast helps to remove a bit of the garlic bite. So long as you rub the toast down evenly, the garlic flavor will be distributed in every single bite. It’s heaven.

Once perfectly browned, the shrooms are removed from the heat before adding the truffle oil and lemon zest. I find the flavors of these ingredients to be best preserved when they are lightly heated – so removing from the heat is key to finishing the recipe. Then you taste, add salt and crushed red pepper flakes, and adjust seasoning as needed. Top your crisp garlicky toast with all the mushrooms, add the chives, and grate on some cheese and you are good to go! I used Grana Padano which is like a less intense (and cheaper!) Parmigiano Reggiano – but multiple cheeses would work. I have provided some suggestions for other hard cheese below. You could even use feta or goat cheese – or you could leave the cheese out altogether (or try nutritional yeast, yum!) and make it vegan.

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Truffled Mushroom Toast with Lemon Zest and Chives

Servings: 1

Time: about 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of fresh mushrooms (I used a blend of crimini, shiitaki, and oyster)
• juice of half a lemon (about 1 tbsp.)
• 1/4 tsp. of fresh lemon zest
• scant tbsp. fresh chives, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of shredded Grana Padano cheese
• 1/2 tbsp. truffle oil (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
• salt (I used smoked)
• pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 large slice of bread (I used whole wheat sour dough)
• 1 small garlic clove
• cooking oil

How-to:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Drizzle some cooking oil onto bread and place into the oven until browned and toasted, about 8-10 minutes.
3. While bread is toasting, melt butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms.
4. Let mushrooms sear, undisturbed, until golden brown on the first side, about 3 minutes.
5. Stir and flip the mushrooms. Add lemon juice and let sear on the other side for 2-3 minutes until golden.
6. Remove mushrooms from heat. Add in lemon zest, salt, crushed red pepper flakes (if using), and truffle oil. Stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. When bread is toasted, pull from oven. Slice garlic clove in half and rub it, cut side down, onto the toast (be careful, toast is hot). You do not need to use all of the garlic, just rub it once all over.
8. Top garlic rubbed toast with mushroom mixture. Top with chives and cheese and serve.

Notes:

• Truffle oils vary a lot in flavor. I find half a tablespoon of my relatively light one to be perfect. Please add to taste to get the amount of truffle flavor you enjoy.
• Grana Padano is a hard, aged, cows milk cheese. It has a flavor similar to Parmigiano Reggiano. Parm would be the closest sub, but aged Pecorino Romano or Manchego would also be delicious subs with some funk from the sheeps milk they are made from.