With fall settling in, for the last time in the year we are enjoying the bounty of nature as market stands fill up with earthy mushrooms, innumerable and always-one-new-variety-to-discover pumpkins, colorful chard and sweet chestnuts.
I combined some of this fall’s plenty into this easy to make, yet delicious starter or tapas dish.
Sanni
Ingredients (per 1 person):
- 3 thin slices of ciabatta
- 1-2 tablespoons of soft-tasting olive oil
- 200 grams of porcini
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- a few dashes of dry sherry
- 2 artichoke hearts (kitchen-ready), finely sliced
- 4-5 chestnuts (kitchen-ready)
- freshly ground pepper, salt
Preparation:
- Place the ciabatta slices on an oven tray or in an oven dish, drizzle olive oil over them.
- Place in the oven (pre-heated to 180 degrees Celsius) for approximately 10 – 15 minutes. The slices should be completely dry at the end of the oven time. Make sure they are not turning dark, though. Arrange on serving dishes.
- Roughly chop the chestnuts and either roast in a frying pan without the addition of oil or oven-roast them for a couple of minutes. Set aside.
- Carefully clean the porcini, if necessary (best is to not wash, but if very dirty, wash in a bowl filled with cold water and 1-2 tablespoons of flour dissolved in it).
- Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium to high heat.
- Add the porcini and fry until soft, while still having a bit of a bite. The porcini will release liquid while frying. Turn up the temperature, if necessary, to dry as quickly as possible. This will prevent the porcini from boiling and getting slushy.
- Towards the end of the frying time, deglaze with a few dashes of sherry. Almost immediately add the artichoke.
- Toss a couple of times in the pan, then stir in the chestnuts.
- Distribute the porcini over the bread slices. You can decorate the dishes with a branch of fresh oregano if you like. Enjoy immediately.
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