Mushroom Toast Tapas

Total Time: 35 mins Preparation Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 lb mushroom, stems cleaned,brushed clean,and coarsely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon minced parsley
• 1 tablespoon minced cured ham
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons grated manchego cheese or 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 4 slices good-quality sandwich bread, crusts removed
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk, plus
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon dry wine
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• nutmeg (be generous)
• cayenne (be generous)

Recipe

• 1 prepare the sauce by melting the butter over a low to medium heat in a saucepan and adding the flour.
• 2 cook and stir for a few minutes, then add the milk and wine gradually and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth.
• 3 season with the salt, pepper, nutmeg (to taste) and cayenne (to taste); although it is recommended to be generous with both the cayenne and nutmeg, it is your choice.
• 4 remove from the heat and set aside.
• 5 in a skillet, heat the oil until it is very hot; add the mushrooms and saute over high heat for about 2 minutes.
• 6 (i added the dried parsley about 1 minute into the cooking time. if using fresh, wait until the next step.) if the mushrooms give off liquid, cook until it is evaporated before continuing.
• 7 add the garlic, parsley (if not added before), ham, salt and pepper and turn off the heat.
• 8 combine with the sauce, stir in cheese, and mix until smooth and all ingredients are evenly distributed.
• 9 the mixture may be made ahead to this point and refrigerated.
• 10 toast the bread lightly and cut each slice into two triangles.
• 11 cover each triangle completely with 1/8 of the mushroom mixture.
• 12 there are a number of ways you can prepare this: broil until golden, place them face down in 1/2 inch of hot oil to fry, or enclose in puff pastry dough.
• 13 if using puff pastry dough, you will need about 1 pound of pastry; cut the pastry into 3" strips and wrap them around 2 teaspoons of filling.
• 14 bake at 400 for 8 minutes.
• 15 you can also use the filling for small pastry puff tart shells.