Oyster mushroom bruschette
with garlic and peperoncini
Bruschetta ai Funghi
Oyster mushroom bruschette with garlic and peperoncini is a classic Italian antipasto served in Trattorie all over the country and particularly around the big forests in Toscana and Umbria.
In areas with a warm climate and high levels of humidity, oyster mushrooms known as Funghi pleus sfusi in my Italian supermaket can be harvested all year round. The meaty, mussel shaped fungus grows on rotting trunks of beechwood and elm, and apart from having a delicious earthy flavour of its own, oyster mushrooms have a great capacity for speaking up the flavours of other ingredients like garlic and peperoncini.
I use oyster mushrooms for starters, as sidedishes for meat and in pasta sauce, and they are invariably prepared with garlic and peperoncini. This way they will keep for a couple of days in the fridge, and they can always be transformed into an appetizing new dish, when you are ready for a change.
I go easy on the garlic and peperoncini as the taste intensifies over time, but you can always add more if you want your oyster mushrooms to have more kick.
Ingredients
300 g oyster mushrooms
1 clove of garlic
1 peperoncino
Fresh parsley
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Preparation
Clean the oyster mushrooms and chop them up in smaller pieces.
Peel and slice the garlic
Heat up the olive oil in a frying pan, and cry the garlic over low heat for a couple of minutes. It shouldn’t be allowed to turn brown.
Add a crushed peperoncino and the chopped oyster mushrooms, and fry gently until the mushrooms start to cry.
Turn off the heat, mix with chopped parsley and serve oyster mushroom bruschette as a starter on a nice rustic slice of toast. You can also use a smaller size of toasted bread, and serve the oyster mushrooms as crostini.
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