mushrooms on toast, other snacks

Another favorite recipe from Deborah Madison's the Savory Way, mushrooms on toast provencale style. Pictured above and below with an herb salad, mug of chai, and crispy kale. I had a large, late pancake breakfast and needed something green and filling to keep me from making a meal of and entire pacakge of corn chips and an entire jar of salsa. There are probably as many ways of making crispy kale as there are kale-lovers; mine is only slightly different from the crispy sesame kale recipe in the vegan yumyum cookbook (not on vegan yumyum's site, but the veggie gal has posted the recipe). My herb salad was a mix of store-bought and garden greens: baby arugula, parsley, sorrel, baby spinach, chives, celery, sunflower seeds, and walnuts.

MUSHROOMS ON TOAST PROVENCALE STYLE

Ingredients: (makes 2 generous servings)

1/2 pound firm white mushrooms 

1/4 cup mixed light and virgin olive oils

salt 

coarsely ground or crushed peppercorns 

1 garlic clove, chopped 

lemon juice

2 or 3 slices of bread 

2 tablespoons chopped parsley 

2 teaspoons chopped marjoram and 1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme, or several pinches of herbes de Provence

Cut the mushrooms into quarters. Toss them with the olive oil, a light sprinkling of salt, the pepper, garlic, a squeeze of lemon, and the dried herbs, if using. Set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes. Just before you're ready to eat, toast the bread. Heat a saute pan, add the mushrooms, and saute them briskly, until they've begun to color. Taste and season with more salt and lemon juice. Add the parsley and marjoram, toss, and serve the mushrooms over the toast. 

A similar salad, with chimichurri on toast. Chimichurri is really a sauce for grilled meat, but I love just spreading it on toast, or serving it as an appetizer with crackers. It's also great on seitan, and probably on fake meat. But on toast! Yum.