Mushroom Brochette

Brush both sides of the bread slices with 2 tablespoons olive oil and grill until golden brown.
Cut mushrooms into chunks and sauté with 4 tablespoons olive oil and garlic over medium/high heat until golden brown.
Pile mushrooms on toasted bread slices and serve immediately.
That’s it, that’s all you have to do!
I served this with a mixed green salad with crumbled aged ricotta cheese, halved blackberries and a vignette made with fig balsamic vinegar. The combination of the sweetness in the salad with the mushroom garlic of the broschette was absolute tops!

Chef's Note & Story

Dining in New York is always a treat but my latest trip there proved to be absolutely the best foodie experience I have had in a long time! We went to Mario Batali’s market/eatery, Eataly and what a treat that was!
The market is filled with produce so fresh it literally gave me shivers. There is a cheese area that rivals anything I know from France and Italy with whole rounds of parmesan piled high along with a hundred other cheeses to tempt any palate! I can’t forget to mention the meats and fish; you’ll want to buy one of everything and then top it all off with a fresh pasty before you leave!
The eatery is divided into separate areas; we chose to dine in the vegetarian restaurant and boy am I happy we did! We opted to try two specials; mushroom brochette and broccoli rabe brochette which had us ooooing and awwwwing with flavor delight!
Naturally as soon as I got home I wanted to try and incorporate these wonderful dishes into our normal dining habits and treat my family to at least a hint of the amazing dishes I had just enjoyed. I’m not going to say I was able to recreate the dishes exactly; because I wasn’t. But I would like to share with you the two brochettes that came out of Mario Batali’s Eataly; my family declared them fantastic and I think you will too!