Cheesy mushroom toast cups

Freshening up a childhood recipe!

As a young child, toast cups seemed the height of culinary creativity to me. To use a humble slice of buttered bread to create a vessel for delicious fillings was brilliant, I thought, and I have fond memories of making toast cups many different ways. I hadn’t thought about them for years until I recently stumbled upon a stash of recipe cards filled with my childish scrawl and decided to give this lovely little dish a fresh new look. Play around with the seasonings to suit your tastes and choose a variety of mushrooms for maximum flavour – I used cremini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms; portobellos would also be lovely. So would a tomato-eggs-bacon combination, or maybe a spinach-eggs-cheese….the sky’s the limit, really! You could easily make appetizer-sized toast cups with smaller pieces of bread and mini-muffin tins. I like to serve this version with a green salad and a glass of robust red wine for an easy, delicious brunch or quick supper.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) butter
• 6 ounces (225 grams) sliced mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) freshly ground coriander seeds
• 1/8 teaspoon (.7 mL) cayenne
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) butter, softened
• 6 slices whole wheat bread, crusts removed
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) minced chives or green onions
• 3 tablespoons (90 mL) freshly grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of the butter. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until they are nicely browned (about 5 minutes). Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute more. Season with salt, pepper, coriander and cayenne and remove to a bowl. Set aside.
• Butter one side of each bread slice. Press the bread, buttered sides down, into a muffin tin.

• In a medium bowl, combine beaten eggs, cream and chives. Add the cooled mushroom mixture and stir gently to combine.
• Divide the egg mixture equally among the toast cups. Sprinkle the tops with the cheese.

• Bake in preheated oven until egg mixture is set (it should not jiggle when you move the pan) and the tops are golden brown (about 18 – 20 minutes).

Serves 2 – 3.