Bruschetta With Sauteed Saffron Milk Cap Mushrooms And Goat Cheese

Autumn is coming to an end and my dear friend A was rather determine to go forage for mushrooms before the end of the mushrooming season here in Victoria. She made the trip down to the Mornington Peninsular with N and came back with a huge bounty of saffron milk caps and a few slippery jacks.

I was given the best job of turning them into something delicious. Not wanting to mess around with something so fresh, I sauteed the mushrooms with a few simple ingredients and used it as topping for bruschetta. A also brought back some beautiful goat cheese from the Mornington and it went beautifully with the wild mushrooms. Feta or goat curd will be good substitutes.

I think it will be hard to go back to the cultivated mushrooms after this and we are already looking forward to the next mushroom season.

P.S Our blogger friends from Where's The Beef have also gone mushrooming recently, click here to read about their adventure.

A and N talked about their first mushrooming experience while busy cleaning the mushrooms.

Just an idea of the size of their bounty... well done girls!

makes 6 serves
you'll need;
2 tbs of olive oil
25 g of butter
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 sprigs of thyme, removed stalks and chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary, removed stalks and chopped
20 to 25 saffron milk caps or a selection of wild mushrooms, sliced or torn into pieces
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley
6 slices of sourdough bread, rubbed with garlic and drizzled with a little olive oil
goat cheese, goat curd or feta cheese
olive oil or truffle oil (optional)

Get the chopping, cutting and slicing out of the way and we are ready to start cooking.

Heat up a frying pan until it is smoking (this is crucial or the mushrooms will start to stew instead) then add in the olive oil and butter follow by the chopped garlic and herbs. Saute the chopped ingredients for 30 seconds before adding the mushrooms.

Cook the mushrooms on high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, season well with salt and pepper and add in some chopped parsley.

Place the bread slices under the grill for 5 minutes or until they are slightly golden. You may also char the bread on a hot griddle.

Spoon some sauteed mushrooms over the bread slices, crumb some goat cheese on top, sprinkle with some extra chopped parsley and drizzle with a little olive oil or truffle oil if you have some waiting to be used.

Serve as a first course with a nice bottle of red wine. Come back on Friday to find out what we had as our main.