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I love mushrooms. I can’t get enough of the umami taste that they bring to food. I also love truffles and have paid unfathomable sums at restaurants for truffle tasting menus. But if you don’t live in the South of France where truffles are easily attainable, truffle-infused olive oil can give you the taste you crave. When the truffle oil is paired with sautéed mushrooms, it is indeed a pairing destined for nirvana.
I’m a mushroom purist, so I don’t like sautéed onions mixed together with the mushrooms unless I’m making something specific—such as Beef Wellington. You can throw in a handful of diced onions to your mushroom mixture if you like, but try it my way first. |
Mushrooms leach water when they cook so you don’t need a lot of liquids to cook this. The mushrooms will absorb fats as they cook, so it’s essential to use real butter. (Please, do not even THINK of using a butter substitute!) I like to use a bit of olive oil as well because I think it gives it more structure.
The best cheese to use on the bruschetta is a fresh mozzarella that you grate by hand, but I often use packaged mozzarella for convenience. Try it both ways. I will go to the extra effort of using fresh mozzarella when I have company, but if I’m adding some bruschetta to a light dinner at home on a Tuesday, I’ll just use the packaged cheese.
The Balsamic Vinegar is really key to giving this recipe depth. I keep three types of Balsamic Vinegar in my house: regular, aged and glaze. Aged Balsamic vinegar is available in finer grocery stores and specialty markets and can get increasingly expensive depending on how long it was aged. I typically use this directly on salads with a little olive oil. Because it’s been aged, it is thicker than regular vinegar… and will get thicker the longer it was aged. Balsamic glaze, however, is a thicker version of normal Balsamic vinegar. It typically comes in a squeeze bottle for drizzling, and is much less expensive than aged Balsamic is. If you cannot find Basalmic glaze and you don’t want to splurge for aged vinegar, you can create your own thickened vinegar by boiling it on the stove until it’s reduced by 75%. Cooking vinegar is quite pungent, so do it on a day when you can open all of the windows or do it on the outdoor grill. This Balsamic vinegar reduction will keep just like normal vinegar; just put the cooled reduction into a sealed glass jar and keep it in a cool, dry spot in your pantry.
When buying truffle-infused olive oil, opt for a small bottle of black truffle oil. Larger bottles are available, but trust me that a little bit goes a long way. It’s better to get small bottles and buy it more often so your oil is always fresh.
Mushroom Truffle Bruschetta Recipe
1/2 cup beef broth (chicken broth can also be used)
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/4 cup butter
1 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
1 loaf Italian bread
1 cup freshly grated mozzarella
Balsamic Vinegar Glaze for drizzling
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for drizzling
Black Truffle Olive Oil for drizzling
Saute mushrooms with broth, wine, butter, olive oil and spices until all liquid is absorbed. Slice Italian bread into 1” slices. Drizzle with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Top with grated mozzarella and a tablespoon of mushrooms. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted. Drizzle a few drops of Black Truffle Olive Oil over each piece. Truffle oil has intense flavor so use this sparingly! Serve immediately.
Wine Pairing: Old-world red that brings out the earthiness (aged Bordeaux, Crianza, Super Tuscan)
Avoid New-world fruity wines such as: Shiraz, Malbec, Zinfandel
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