Creamy Mushrooms on Toast

I was itching to make this hence checked out a few recipes, online. I went on to take a bit of this and a bit of that from various recipes and videos. This recipe is the result of those bits put together. The perfect Creamy Mushrooms on Toast!

Ingredients:

600 grams (200 grams x 3 packets) button mushrooms

6 streaky bacon rashers

6 cloves garlic, chopped

4-5 spring onions, chopped

3/4^th teaspoon Lemon Pepper Seasoning

1 teaspoon Seasoned Pepper

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

½ cup (125 mils) chicken stock

300 mils cream (I used Amul cartons)

Salt, to taste

1 or 2 spring onion greens, finely chopped, for garnish

1 tablespoon butter

4 tablespoons oil

Bread slices

Butter, for the toast (optional)

Method:

1.    Wash mushrooms: shake off the excess water and leave to dry on a large plate, or on kitchen paper towels, for 10-15 minutes.

2.    After they are a tad dry, slice them, thickly. Keep aside.

3.    In a non-stick pan, on medium heat, lay out the bacon rashers and fry them until crisp. They will fry in their own fat so do not add any oil to fry them.

4.    Remove the bacon on to a kitchen paper towel and allow to cool.

5.    When the bacon has cooled, crumble it into tiny pieces. Keep aside.

6.    Add the sliced mushrooms to the same pan that has the rendered fat of bacon and quickly sauté for a minute on high heat. The mushrooms will absorb all the rendered fat, which will make the end-result more flavourful. Remove the mushrooms onto a plate and keep aside. (Do not allow the mushrooms to go soggy and release water)

7.    Add the butter and oil to the same pan, add the garlic and spring onions and sauté until spring onions are soft and translucent.

8.    Add red chili flakes, Lemon Pepper Seasoning and Seasoned Pepper. Sauté for a few seconds.

9.    Add the mushrooms and give them a gentle mix.

10. Add the chicken stock, give it a stir, and allow to simmer on low heat for 5 to 6 minutes.

11. Remove the cream into a bowl and smoothen it with a whisk. (Do not beat the cream)

12. Add the cream to the simmering stock-mushroom mix. Stir continuously, on low heat.

13. Continue stirring and simmering until the creamy gravy thickens to ‘coating the spoon’ consistency.

14. Add salt, as needed. Simmer a few seconds more to allow the salt to blend in. Remove the mushrooms into a bowl.

15. Toast the bread slices under a grill, in a toaster or on a flat griddle

16. When the toasts are browned to desired colour, remove onto a plate, butter them, and spoon some the creamy mushrooms over them.

17. Garnish with chopped spring onion greens and bacon crumble.

Chef Notes:

1.    I would recommend streaky bacon as it releases a good amount of fat when fried. You need that rendered fat to sauté the mushrooms. If you feel the fat rendered is too little, add a splash of oil, as required.

2.    If you don’t have Lemon Pepper Seasoning, add a few drops of lime juice when you add the cream. The Lemon Pepper Seasoning, or lime juice drops, are merely added to cut the richness of the cream sauce. You can give it a miss if you prefer a rich sauce.

3.    If you do not have Seasoned Pepper, please use coarsely ground black pepper. It’ll work just as well.

4.    I would advise the use of chicken stock instead of substituting it with water, or milk, as the stock lends immense flavour to the dish. Vegetarians will, of course, have to opt for milk.

5.    Please smoothen the cream before you add it to the dish. It ensures the cream does not split. Also, stir the cream on LOW heat, CONTINUOUSLY, for the same reason. You do NOT want the cream to split.

6.    I chose baguettes but regular sliced bread, Sourdough, Ciabatta or any other bread will do.

7.    To butter or not to butter, that is a question you will have to ask yourself. My greedy soul yelled at me when I asked myself that question. “Of course, butter the damn bread slices”, it said. *grin* I'm so judging you if you choose not to butter them. *wicked grin*

8.    I had a wee bit of mushrooms leftover. The simplest way to re-use them is to add a tablespoon (or two) of milk, give it a light mix and reheat them on extremely low flame. If using a microwave, use the 30 second burst-mix-burst-mix method until heated and creamy.

9.    You may also use the same recipe, as a side, to a hearty chicken or beef-buff steak.

10. I have refrained from writing the quantity of bread slices as the number of slices used will depend on how much mushroom you spoon onto each slice. For us, this quantity sufficed for a baguette and a half.

11. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Some more photographs: