Mushrooms on Toast

I know mushrooms (much like olives) tend to polarise people. Some people hate them, but Andy and I love them. We don't buy them very often, because they are usually about $10 a kilo - which isn't very much when you consider how light they are, but is a mental hurdle we struggle to jump. But when we do see them for a little bit cheaper, we tend to get a lot of them. And, in the interests of using them when they're nice, rather than letting them go slimy in the fridge, we tend to use them as feature ingredients.

One of our favourite uses for mushrooms is breakfast-style, on toast (sometimes for dinner, or lunch, but breakfast-style, anyways). Breakfast mushrooms are quick to make, filling and tasty, and take very little in the way of actual cooking skills. Basically, perfect for a weekend morning. They are also easy to vary. Our favourite way to have them is in the form of Creamy Breakfast Mushrooms, which I'll post a recipe for below, but sometimes we saute them with olive oil and balsamic, or with lime and soy, or just with butter (nuttelex, obvi) and salt & pepper.

So here, step by step, is how I put together a cafe-style breakfast in less than 15 minutes.

Creamy Breakfast Mushrooms

Put a skillet on medium-high heat. Take 4 slices of bread out of the freezer (unless you don't freeze your bread, of course!) to thaw. Peel and thinly slice a clove or two of garlic. Put the garlic, along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and/or butter in the frying pan.

Grab your mushrooms, wipe any obvious dirt off with a tea towel (don't wash mushrooms - they absorb the water, or something, and it makes them go a bit yuck), and slice them thickly. If you can find them on special, or don't mind paying for them, pre-sliced mushrooms make this SO QUICK.

Put them in the pan with the garlic, and stir them around. The hotter you cook them, the better, because they brown quickly without losing all their liquid and kind of... stewing.

While the mushrooms cook, put 3 tablespoons of corn flour in a jug. Mix in the juice from half a lime, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and about 1/3 of a cup of coconut cream. Whisk this together until it's smooth. While you're doing this, stir the mushies every now and then.

If you have some, dash outside really quickly and grab some parsley, and give it a quick chop.

When the mushrooms just start to soften, put your bread in the toaster.

Re-mix up your corn flour mixture and then immediately pour it into the pan with the mushies, and give it a good stir. It should thicken pretty much straightaway. Let it cook for about a minute, and then turn off the heat. Stir in the parsley, and taste to see if it needs salt or pepper.

When the toast is done, you can put on some butter if you're feeling indulgent, or just put it on the plate and scoop some mushrooms on top.

Enjoy!