Cheese Toasts With Mushrooms, Miso & Honey
Melina Hammer
Photo by Melina Hammer
- Serves
- 2
- Prep Time
- 10 Minutes
- Cook Time
- 10 Minutes
When I crave sustenance that is speedy and delicious, these toasts come to the rescue. The washed-rind, creamy cheese is a lush foil to meaty mushrooms. I dreamed up the sweet-savory dressing while thinking of a couple things: cheese and honey as a pairing, and how miso echoes the mushrooms’ umami. And who doesn’t love a good toast? It’s the perfect vehicle for all of it. I’ve loved triple-cream cheeses for a long time, and this is definitely one of my new favorite ways to use it.
Ingredients
Honey-Miso Dressing
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoon white or chickpea miso
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
Mushroom Toasts
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for sautéing
- 4 ounce hen-of-the-woods (maitake) mushrooms, sliced into steaks, or oyster mushrooms, base trimmed, mushrooms pulled from their cluster
- Kosher salt
- 2 slices sourdough bread
- 2 ounce (¼ wheel) St. Stephen cheese (or another triple-cream cheese), at room temperature
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoon chopped curly parsley
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Directions
- Step 1
Use a small fork to whisk together the sauce ingredients until emulsified. You can thin it further by adding a little more olive oil, as desired. (The sauce can be made 2 days in advance and kept sealed, at room temperature.)
- Step 2
Warm a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, then drizzle with oil. Once hot, add the mushrooms and sauté, undisturbed, for 3 to 5 minutes, until browned. If the pan looks dry at any point, drizzle additional oil as needed. Turn the mushrooms, then sauté for another 3 to 5 minutes, occasionally flattening the mushrooms to help them become crispy at their edges. Once they are cooked, turn off the heat and sprinkle with salt.
- Step 3
In a toaster, pan, or under the broiler, toast the bread until golden. Let cool until barely warm, then slather toasts with the cheese. Stack the crispy mushrooms onto the cheese, then drizzle or paint with the miso sauce. Add freshly cracked pepper and scatter with the parsley.