Mushrooms on Toast

Mushrooms on toast is one of my favorite breakfasts because it is simple to make yet it tastes wonderful and is healthy for you. Growing up with English and Scottish parents meant that my understanding of breakfast was the pretty classical bacon and eggs on toast, which I love. So why try something else? Well, to be honest, I moved into a boat that had no refrigeration so I pretty much became a vegetarian hence, bacon was out! Fortunately I love mushrooms more than just about any other food on earth so I started eating mushrooms on toast and I have to admit, I prefer it. Update: I recently added corn to this recipe and it is simply fantastic. The sweetness contrasts beautifully with the earthiness of the mushrooms.

Cooking in my sailboat's tiny galley, that's boater talk for a kitchen, can be extremely challenging due to space limitations. Less space means less room to store food and less room for cooking equipment such as stoves. As a consequence of this lack of room, I have cooked all of my shipboard meals almost exclusively with an old Force 10 gimbaled stove i.e. a single burner on a frame that allows it to swing as the boat moves. This keeps the food inside the pot instead of all over the cabin sole of my boat and out of the bilge! Every morning when I wake up and find myself in desperate need of a hot cup of coffee I am convinced again that this stove is, without question, the most valuable piece of equipment I have on my boat.

I also have a charcoal BBQ that I use to roast vegetables and other such things but it takes a while to start the charcoal and get the whole process started. The propane burner is perfect for preparing breakfast because it is quick and easy to use.

Pita bread is perfect for baking on a boat because it requires no refrigerated ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Cooking Instructions

• Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water.
• Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
• Let the mixture sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt.
• With your fist, make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour the yeast water into it.
• Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the mix becomes elastic.
• Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. It will probably take about 10-15 minutes.
• Coat the dough in oil and then place the dough in an oiled bowl.
• Let the dough rest in a warm place for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
• Roll the dough out into a rope, and pinch off 10-12 small pieces and roll them into balls.
• Let the balls rest, covered for 10 minutes.
• Roll the balls out until they are about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.
• Bake in a thick, cast iron pot until they puff up and brown.

- Recipe from http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/pitabreadrecipe.htm

Basic Damper Recipe

Damper is an iconic bread that is ideal for camping, boating or any situation where no refrigeration is available.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Self-Raising flour
• ½ Teaspoon of Salt
• 2 Teaspoons of Sugar
• ¾ Cup of Water

Cooking Directions

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together.

2. Whisk in the water

3. Kneed by hand.

4. Brush it in oil or butter.

5. I cook my damper in a shallow saucepan with a lid over the cooker or sometimes wrapped in foil on the BBQ. Cook until golden brown.

- Recipe courtesy of http://www.albanyaustralia.com/damperrecipe.html#basic

Making toast on a stove top burner never seems to turn out right, at least not for me anyway. If you put the bread directly over the flames then it never gets that even, golden brown deliciousness that we all crave in toast. You can fry it in a pan with a little oil or butter but which tastes great, but isn't exactly healthy. You can use those cast iron camping pie maker things but it takes a while to get that going and I like breakfast fast and I've never been completely satisfied with the results of those anyway. You can produce pretty decent toast over BBQ coals but, again, that takes a long time to make happen. So what's the answer to making delicious breakfast toast on board my sailboat? It really depends on what bread you choose to toast. How to choose the right bread...

Sliced Bread

Sliced bread form your local grocery store keeps for a long time, tastes OK and toasts very well, with the exception of the above mentioned restrictions. Oh and it cuts easily too if you are eating a breakfast dish that requires you to use a knife and fork.

Tortillas

Tortillas, along with many other kinds of bread, toast up very well without any butter or oil at all. You just throw it in the pan and heat it until it turns brown. You can even toast it directly on the cooker's flame and it tastes amazing. The only problem I have with using tortillas as a toast base for this mushroom recipe is that it is a little thin. You can add some body to it by melting cheese on top.

Naan Bread

If you have read many of my other recipe articles then you already know that naan bread is one of my favorite breads to use in lots of dishes. It's hearty, filling and tasty. Like Mexican tortillas it toasts well and is great for making pizzas, flat breads or mushrooms on toast. Naan bread is now widely available from many grocery stores. It is also easy to make and cooks fast.

Pita Bread

Pita bread has become extremely popular with such products as pita pockets, etc. now common in the chain supermarkets and even in the chain fast food places with pita wraps. I have been eating Pita since I was in my teens and I was lucky enough to date a gorgeous Lebanese girl. This bread is also extremely easy to make (see recipe to the right.)

Damper (Australian Bread)

Damper is a traditional Australian bread that I have been making and enjoying since before my teens. It is perfect for cooks living aboard a boat because, like Pita bread, it requires no butter or milk. There are many variations on damper, including some that include beer in their ingredients, but to keep things simple, I have included a basic recipe in the column on the right hand side of this page.

Lavash Bread

Another gift from our friends in the Middle East, Lavash bread is a thin, soft flat bread that is perfect for wraps. This bread is not particularly well suited to this mushrooms on toast recipe but you can convert it into a wonderful wrap.

Gordita

Gorditas are a Mexican cake, kind of like a North American biscuit or an English scone, but made from masa i.e. corn flour instead of the more traditional wheat flour most of us are used to. Gorditas can be heavy and dense but also provide a great twist on the more usual breakfast toast. Like most of the breads mentioned here, gorditas require no refrigerated ingredients but can be unhealthy if you deep fry them or a little dry if you bake them. Try using tahini mixed in with the masa flour instead of butter or lard.

Mushrooms just might be the most wonderful food in the world. Full of flavor and healthy, they can be delicate or meaty like a great, juicy steak. In this mushrooms on toast recipe, you can certainly produce tasty results by using just one type of mushroom but, for maximum flavor, you should try mixing several types together. Portobello mushrooms will add good body and great flavor and are readily available in almost every grocery store.

Don't overlook the humble white button mushroom. It gets a bad wrap as being flavorless but if you saute them properly, until it is golden brown, they are extremely tasty and a great addition to any mushroom dish.

This simple meal is complete on it's own but can also be the starting point of more complex dishes. Here are some of the variations on this meal that you will also enjoy.

Onions

If there is any better smell in the world than cooking garlic and onions then I have no idea what it could possibly be. Saute some onions until they start to soften and then add the mushrooms and then the garlic. The results are wonderful.

Tomato

Either fresh or roasted, tomatoes pair wonderfully with mushrooms on toast. Squirted with a little fresh lemon juice or combined with the onions above, the addition of tomatoes takes this dish to a whole new level of flavor.

Beans

There are a lot of different kinds of beans you can add to this dish, everything from baked beans to the canned beans with jalapeno or even one of my favorites, black beans.

Potatoes

Instead of country style potatoes i.e. big squares of potatoes, I like to slice my potatoes and saute them. Their crispy, hearty deliciousness can be enhanced by seasoning them with some Hungarian paprika.