This recipe is fabulous when you’re throwing a party. They are always such a big hit… and any leftover duxelle (fancy French word for filling) may be used as a delicious topping for potatoes, eggs or on top of a filet mignon.
The “croustades†are little cups made with round slices of soft white bread that are pressed into tiny muffin tins and slowly roasted so they hold their cup-like shape. Filled with a creamy, herb-flavored mixture based on the classic French mushroom “duxellesâ€, they are an elegant cocktail horse d’oeuvre that requires very little labor. However, your friends and family will think you are quite the “gourmet!†You may make both the cups and the filling in advance. This recipe is easily doubled for larger parties or to have another batch in the freezer for easy assembly when those unexpected guests arrive at your house!
Mushroom Croustades
Serves 6-8
Cups:
24 slices fresh, thinly-sliced white bread (Believe it or not, Wonder works the best – bad bread works better than good bread – however, Whole Foods white bread in the bakery does work if you’re a snob and don’t want anyone to see Wonder in your shopping cart)
2 tablespoons very soft butter
Mushroom Filling:
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1.5 pound button or crimini mushrooms (finely chopped)
2 level tablespoons of flour
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (add more to taste – I like more cayenne)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (you may want to add more)
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3-4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (may want more)
Butter
For 24 cups, you need a 3-inch plain or fluted cookie cutter and 24 tine muffin tins, each about 2 inches wide at the top. You can buy them, usually combined in panels of twelve in most hardware stores or possibly Williams-Sonoma. It is also great to have one of those little wooden pestles you can buy from Pampered Chef to help shape the cups into the tins – they work best.
With a pastry brush, coat the inside of the tins heavily with the 2 tablesppons of soft butter. Cut a 3-inch round from each slice of bread. Carefully fit these into the muffin tins, pushing the center of the bread into the well and gently molding it around the botton of the tin with the tip of your finger (if you have a small wooden pestle or small round bottle slightly smaller than the bottom of the muffin tin, use this to force the bread in, but don’t be rough or the breat will tear. Each bread round, however you mold it, should form a perfect little cup.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake the cups for about 10 minutes, or until the brown lightly on the rims and on the outsides. Remove them from the tins and let them cool.
The mushroom filling is made as follows:
Chop the shallots and mushrooms very, very fine. In a heavy 10-inch frying pan, slowly melt the 4 tablespoons of butter and, before the foam subsides, add the shallots. Stir them almost constantly, over moderate heat, for about 4 minutes without letting them brown; then stir in the mushrooms. Mix them well into the butter and see that they are thoroughly coated before leaving them on their own. In a few minutes they will begin to give off a good deal of moisture. Stir them now from time to time, and continue to cook until all the moisture has evaporated – 10 to 15 minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat.
To finish the filling, sprinkle 2 level tablespoons of flour over the mushrooms and stir thoroughly together until not a trace of flour is visible. Immediately pour over this 1 cup of heavy cream and, stirring continously, bring the mixture to a boil. It will thicken heavily, turn down the heat to the barest simmer, and cook a minute or two longer to remove any taste of raw flour. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the seasonings and herbs; salt, cayenne, parsley, chives and lemon juice. Taste, transfer the filling to a bowl. Cover with saran and cool in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble them.
Fill the cups, mound the filling slightly. Sprinkle each with Parmesan cheese, dot with a speck of butter and arrange on a cookie sheet. Heat about 10 minutes in a preheated 350° oven (do this about 10 minutes before you intend to serve them); Watch them carefully as they burn easily. Serve immediately.
SEE ALSO:
-12 WAYS TO USE EGGNOG
-FINGER FOODS FOR PARTIES
-COCKTAIL RECIPE: FOR KIDS!
See Also:
-12 WaY
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