Russian Season

As soon as I saw Baby Portabella & Mozzarella on Mini Toasts at Sunny-side Up Recipes, I knew I would be making these. The recipe seemed perfect: golden-brown mini toasts topped with melting mozzarella and mushrooms sautéed in rose wine, seasoned with Italian herbs… just perfect! I really wanted to share this treat with somebody, so when Grandmother said she was going to visit us, I know what we’d offer her as an appetizer ;-)

Of course I had to alter Sunny’s ingredient list a little bit – for example, I couldn’t find any Portabella mushrooms, so I took plain champignons. The bread slices I used were bigger in size (I wish they sold such mini-toasts here!), and I removed the crust as it seemed to be too coarse for such a delicate dish. But the bread was really flavourful and I even ate almost all of the crusts while cooking, hehe.

So, my ingredients were:
14 slices of Latvian rye bread
2 balls of fresh mozzarella (I cut them into 16 pieces as Sunny recommends, and ate two)
1 ½ cups white champignons, sliced
3-4 tbsp dry red wine
1 tbsp fresh thyme
Salt to taste
Olive oil

I sautéed the sliced mushrooms in olive oil, gave them a splash of red wine as they started to grow golden-brown, topped the bread slices with slices of mozzarella, sautéed mushrooms, and sprinkled the toasts with thyme. I also sprinkled a tiny pinch of salt on the bread where it was not covered by mozzarella. I baked the toasts in the oven for about 10 minutes – I just couldn’t wait any longer! I guess the mozzarella is the key indicator here – as soon as it melts the toasts are ready!

And know what? Sunny recently made some Mini Calzones with ricotta and spinach. Just look at those cute goodies!