Last night I made GDL's Mushroom Pesto Crostini. When I ran down the ingredient list, everything was a staple in my kitchen so I just needed to run out for the mushrooms. The recipe calls for 8 ounces of white button mushrooms and just one ounce of porcini mushrooms.
At Whole Foods on Saturday, I grabbed my typical button mushrooms and scanned the shelves for whatever the heck porcini mushrooms are. Bingo! Leave it to Whole Foods to carry thirty varieties of mushrooms. Just one problem- they're $19.99 a pack and I only needed one ounce and even if I could separate the pack, no way in hell I'm paying 2 dollars for one friggin’ mushroom that probably doesn't taste all that different from all the other mushrooms anyway! Sorry Giada but maybe when I have four cookbooks and three TV shows and a line of Target products, then I'll start including these crazy expensive vegetables that still smell like dirt no matter what price tag is on them. So I eighty-sixed the porcini and went with my perfectly priced white button mushrooms.
I was feeling extraordinarily lazy last night, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the whole operation took no time at all. The mushrooms soften in hot water for 15 minutes and then get thrown into the food processor along with fresh parsley, garlic and toasted walnuts. OK I didn't toast them, I was tired... enough with the third degree!
Anyways, the mixture gets pulsed with a little olive oil and then poured into a bowl with Parmesan cheese. During this process the perfect little pieces of baguette got toasted in the oven until crispy and golden brown. A dollop of mushroom pesto on each slice and I was done! The mushroom mixture appears slightly dog-food-esque if it wasn't for the beautiful bright green parsley flakes and the shards of white Parmesan. And on the crostini it looked like a gourmet appetizer. I was quite pleased with myself.
Most importantly, it was delicious. The earthy mushrooms with the creamy parm, the fresh zing of parsley and the crunch of the baguette was a heavenly little bite. And my lazy self was able to crash on the couch for the remainder of the evening. Perfecto!
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