A true Italian Mamma will probably call my way of making bruschettas a blasphemy, but since I don´t own a brustolina, I am not going to go without serving these crispy slices of bread with simple toppings of tomato and basil or more special goat cheese and pears.
Brustolina, a grill pan for grilling slices of bread for bruschettas, would be another gadget in the kitchen that would claim space that is already at limit of scarcity and fortunately it is impossible to get one here. Clear that a gas top would bless even a slice of bread with that special taste created by real fire but you can´t always have everything. At the end it is just food.
So an oven will do or a toaster in a breakfast hurry. The result is jolly crispy anyway.
Let me call them crostinis then - grilled or toasted bread with a topping.
Mushroom and Gorgonzola crostinis
Ingredients for ca. 10:
Base:
1 baguette bread or other bread, sliced
olive oil
garlic
Topping:
2 tbsp olive oil
200g champignons or other mushrooms, sliced
white part of 1 leek, thinly sliced
50g blue cheese like gorgonzola
black pepper
dill
Place the bread slices that have been sprinkled with a few drops of olive oil and spread with a clove of garlic on a baking tray and bake in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius until slightly brown and crispy. Alternatively toast the slices of bread in the toaster. For the extra taste spread a little olive oil and garlic on the bread after toasting.
Heat 2 table spoons of olive oil in a pan, cook the sliced leek in the oil for 5 minutes, then add mushrooms and cook another 5 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool for a couple of minutes.
Transfer the slightly cooked mushrooms and leek into a food processor bowl and crush them into a rough paste. Add the blue cheese and black pepper and mix everything into a smooth paste. Taste, if a little extra salt is required.
Serve on grilled or toasted bread. Tastes especially good with dill.
