Open Faced Wild Mushroom Fontina Sandwich Food

GRILLED FONTINA, MUSHROOM, AND ARUGULA SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Heat 4 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add rosemary and stir 30 seconds. Add mushrooms. Cover skillet and cook until mushrooms are tender, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Season mushrooms to taste with salt and pepper; transfer to plate. Wipe out skillet.
• Arrange 4 bread slices on work surface; spread with mustard, if desired. Top bread slices with cheese, then mushrooms and arugula, dividing equally. Top each with bread slice; press to compact. Brush tops lightly with oil.
• Heat reserved skillet over medium heat. Place sandwiches, oiled side down, in skillet. Brush tops lightly with oil. Cover and cook until golden on bottom, occasionally pressing with spatula, about 5 minutes. Turn sandwiches over. Cover and cook until golden on bottom and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer sandwiches to plates; cut in half and serve.

OPEN-FACE PORTABELLA SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Preheat broiler.
• Combine tomato, basil and salt in a small bowl,set aside.
• Clean mushrooms, cut off stems even with caps.
• Discard stems.
• Combine vinegar and oil, gently brush mixture over the mushrooms.
• Place mushrooms on the unheated rack of the broiler pan.
• Broil mushroom 4 to 5 inches from the heat for 6 to 8 minutes or just till tender, turning once.
• Drain mushrooms on paper towels.
• Thinly slice mushrooms.
• Place bread on a baking sheet.
• Place under broiler for 2 to 3 minutes or till bread is heated through.
• To serve, top toasted bread with mushrooms slices and tomato mixture.
• If desired, top with cheese.

WILD MUSHROOM PIZZAS WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS, FONTINA, AND ROSEMARY

Steps:

• Melt 3 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until golden, about 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter with 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil in another heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, garlic, and shallot; sauté 4 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until almost all the liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently, about 13 minutes. Add the rosemary; season with salt and pepper.
• Position the rack in the bottom third of the oven. Place heavy 17-by-11-inch baking sheet on the rack (invert if rimmed). Preheat the oven to 500°F at least 30 minutes before baking. Roll out 2 dough disks on a lightly floured surface to 8-inch rounds, allowing the dough to rest a few minutes if it springs back. Sprinkle another baking sheet (invert if rimmed) with cornmeal. Transfer one dough round to the second baking sheet. Lightly brush the dough with garlic oil. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Scatter 2 1/2 tablespoons of the onions over the cheese. Scatter 1/2 cup of the mushrooms over the onions. Sprinkle with salt.
• Position the baking sheet with the pizza at the far edge of one side of the hot baking sheet. Tilt the sheet and pull it back slowly, allowing the pizza to slide onto the hot sheet. Repeat with the second dough disk, repeating the garlic oil, cheese, onions, mushrooms, and salt, and slide the second pizza onto the other half of the hot baking sheet. Bake pizzas 6 minutes. Rotate the pizzas half a turn, then bake until crust is deep brown, about 6 minutes longer. Using a large spatula, carefully transfer the pizzas to the cutting board. Let rest 1 minute. Slice into wedges and serve.
• Repeat with remaining ingredients to make 4 more pizzas.

OPEN-FACE MUSHROOM SANDWICHES WITH PECORINO SALSA VERDE

Steps:

• Special equipment
• Six-eight 10" metal skewers or bamboo skewers, soaked (optional)
• Pecorino salsa verde
• Toss shallots, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and black pepper in a small bowl to combine; lightly season with salt (the Pecorino will add some saltiness, so bear that in mind). Let sit 3 minutes.
• Meanwhile, very thinly slice Pecorino into tiles with a knife (irregular pieces are okay).
• Add Pecorino, herbs, and oil to pickled shallots and toss gently to combine. Taste and season with more salt if needed; set aside.
• Mushrooms and assembly
• Prepare a grill for medium-high heat; clean grate. Working one at a time, set mushrooms on their sides and slice lengthwise ¼" thick to make 3-4 planks per mushroom, depending their size. If your mushrooms are particularly small or you are using crimini, slice ½" thick and thread onto skewers to keep them from falling through grate.
• Using some of the oil, brush cut sides of mushrooms and transfer to a large bowl or arrange on a rimmed baking sheet if skewered. Lightly brush both sides of each slice of bread with remaining oil and transfer to a platter.
• Press each slice of bread down across grate for even contact and grill until browned with some lightly charred spots, about 2 minutes per side. The goal is a crunchy exterior with a still chewy center. Transfer bread back to platter.
• Brush grate to clean. If using a gas grill, turn heat down to medium. A charcoal grill should be at the tail end of medium-high and headed toward medium at this point, but wait a few minutes if needed. Grill mushrooms, turning halfway through and moving around as needed to avoid flare-ups, until golden all over with lightly charred edges, 6-8 minutes for small pieces and 8-10 minutes for large ones. Return to bowl (slide off of skewers if needed). Add Pecorino salsa verde and toss to combine. Spoon mushroom mixture over grilled bread.

WILD MUSHROOM PIZZA - CARAMELIZED ONIONS, FONTINA, ROSEMARY

Steps:

• *** MAKE DOUGH*** Mix the yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil with the water in a 5-quart bowl or a lidded (not air-tight) food container.
• Mix in the flour without kneading using a spoon, a large capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour. I use a spoon to combine, then my hands for the last bit of flour.
• Cover (not air-tight) and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
• The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (again, not air-tight) container and use over the next 12 days.
• *** MAKE PIZZA *** Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoons vegetable oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until golden, about 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in another heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, garlic, and shallot. Sauté 4 minutes. Add wine and simmer until almost all liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently, about 13 minutes. Add rosemary; season with salt and pepper.
• Position rack in bottom third of oven. Place a pizza stone on rack. Preheat oven to 500°F at least 30 minutes before baking.
• Instead of kneading this dough, you're going to "cloak" it, which (and this is VERY important), should take no more than 30 seconds for the whole process from grabbing off a hunk of dough to the end of cloaking. This is done after the 2-hour rest. Sprinkle a little flour on the surface of the dough you've made and pull or cut off a grapefruit-sized ball. This will be for one pizza. Sprinkle a bit more flour on the top of that ball and with the entire length of the sides of your thumbs, gently stretch the top surface around to the under part of the ball. Gently! You're not actually tearing the dough, but think of it as lengthening the fibers on the very top surface of the ball by stretching it just a bit.
• Roll out 2 dough disks on lightly floured surface to 10-inch rounds, allowing dough to rest a few minutes if it springs back. Sprinkle 2 pizza peels with cornmeal and transfer 1 dough round to each peel. Lightly brush dough with garlic oil. Sprinkle one with 1/2 cup cheese, and then scatter 2 1/2 tablespoons onions over cheese. Scatter 1/2 cup mushrooms over onions. Sprinkle with salt and repeat for second pizza.
• Position tip of pizza peel at a slightly downward angle to roughly 2/3 of the way across pizza stone. With quick forward jerks and less jerky backward motions, jiggle the pizza from the peel to the stone, then slide peel the remainder of the way out so that the pizza is centered on the stone. Repeat with second pizza and bake for 6 minutes. Rotate pizzas half a turn. Bake until crust is deep brown, about 6 minutes longer, but watch that the crust doesn't burn.
• Using a large spatula or two, carefully transfer pizzas to cutting board. Let rest 1 minute. Slice into wedges and serve.