Mushrooms: Crostini con Paté di Funghi

I really wanted to find an authentic Italian recipe for a mushroom crostini. I've been trying to study a little bit of Italian lately. Rest assured: being a language teacher pretty much forbids me from saying that I've actually learned anything at all. My standards of what constitutes "knowing" a language now are set outrageously high.

Anyways, Erin knows a bit of Italian and we went on a trip to Italy a couple years ago together. While in Verona, we spent one afternoon and evening participating in a lovely ritual known as: Cicchetti (chee KEH tee).

It's the Venitian region's response to aperitivos in Milan or Spanish tapas. Before dinner, people meet with friends to have a pre-dinner drink and a couple light snacks. We hand-picked our little snacks and the majority of them were served on little slices of bread or toasts. We bar-crawled to 2-3 different places before deciding we were just full enough to have dinner.

In keeping with this theme I began to look for an Italian crostini recipe. We've kind of butchered this idea, throwing any combo of food on top of toasted baguettes and calling it a crostini. You really can't go wrong - but everywhere I looked it was just sliced up mushrooms with cheese melted on top. Nothing was calling me.

Finally, I just decided to do my google search in Italian. The original recipe is in Italian, and the blog seems authentic enough. To decipher I used a little google translate and relied on my Spanish knowledge to guess at the rest. So, Swieters, you can just jump to the link and try it in it's original version.

I don't have a blender but if you do I bet this would come out awesomely mousse-like and delish.

Because it's served chilled, it's easy to make it and leave it in the fridge for a few days - to either get multiple uses or to pre-make things for a gathering.

Also, I skipped the brandy because I didn't have it and couldn't justify buying a whole bottle for a teaspoon, but I've included it in the recipe in case anyone wants to use it.

Crostini con Paté di Funghi
makes enough for about 10-12 crostinis

1 tsp Brandy
1 stick of butter
2 heaping cups of sliced mushrooms
3 Tbsp chopped walnuts
1 hard-boiled egg
1 shallot
salt
pepper

Melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a skillet and sautee the finely dices shallot until browned. Add the finely sliced mushrooms and cook until soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Combine the rest of the butter, cut into small pieces, walnuts, chopped hard-boiled egg, brandy, and mushroom mixture to blender and mix until a mousse is formed.

Chill mixture in the refrigerator at least one hour before serving. Serve on sliced toast. Garnish with green onion or parsely.

(recipe here - in Italian - but the photos are good)

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