A contribution from Stephan Eicke in the category #Recipes from 11 August 2021
We want to share two delicious dishes with you – including recommendations for espresso and coffee. Today we serve: sauteed mixed mushrooms with lemon zest and creme fraiche on toasted sourdough. For the dessert we show how you can prepare caramelised French Toast with chocolate espresso sauce, mascarpone and cherries.
Does that sound like a complex and time consuming menu? It isn’t. We will guide you through the individual steps, and you will see that both courses can be prepared and served in no time at all. Of course we will also recommend to you particular coffees and espressos that are suitable for these dishes. Let’s get started.
Sauteed mixed mushrooms with lemon zest and creme fraiche on toasted sourdough
Mushrooms can be an acquired taste. Naturally you can choose which kind of mushrooms to use for this special dish. We went with chestnut mushrooms and portobello mushrooms.
Recipe for sauteed mushrooms
- Firstly, slice the chestnut mushrooms or similar mushrooms you have chosen.
- Roast the portobello mushrooms on a tray with a splash of the oil in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Cut the portobello mushrooms into slices 5 mm thick.
- Toast the sourdough until it has a light brown shade.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan until it is hot. Add the chestnut mushrooms and saute them for five minutes.
- Add the portobello mushrooms, butter and saute them for two minutes or until they are caramelized.
- Finish the dish with lemon zest and season it with salt and pepper.
- Arrange everything on the sourdough and finish it with a spoon of creme fraiche.
Toasting the bread makes it crunchy which is the perfect texture for the dish. Also, toasting it gives it a stronger taste. When you caramelize the champignons, you evoke a special umami flavour profile which complements the toasty, roasted notes of the coffee.
But which coffee to choose for this dish? We recommend both the Bookisa as well as the Yirgacheffe. The character of the former is on the sweeter side which works perfectly with the caramelised mushrooms. At the same time, the sweetness is evenly balanced with the coffee’s elegant acidity which the Yirgacheffe also has. The mild taste with its subtle vanilla flavour gives enough room to the caramelised mushrooms and doesn’t dominate the whole recipe.
Caramelized French Toast with chocolate espresso sauce, mascarpone and cherries
Everything is caramelized. And why not? It’s tasty, after all! This dessert is rich but not heavy, and a beloved part of an enjoyable, relaxed brunch.
Recipe for French Toast
- Dice the bread into 2 cm cubes.
- Combine all other ingredients in a bowl.
- Pour the mix over the bread and leave it to soak for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Turn the bread over halfway through so that everything is evenly soaked.
- Bake everything in a greaseproof-lined 30 cm loaf tin for 50 minutes at 150 degrees before you leave everything to cool.
- Before you serve the French Toast, cut a 1.5 cm thick slice and lightly fry it in butter.
- Finish everything by adding a teaspoon of sugar in the pan to caramelize it.
Recipe for chocolate espresso sauce
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Add half the milk (20 ml) to it and whisk it to make a paste.
- Add the remaining milk slowly while you continue to whisk it to avoid lumps.
- Bring everything to a boil slowly. When you see the first bubbles rising, take off the heat and pour the mix into a container of your choice.
The dish was developed using all the bread ends we had left from our sandwich preparation. Waste not, want not. Rich and indulgent, it is the ideal Sunday brunch for a special occasion.
For this recipe we recommend strong espresso roasts like the Yira Santos and the Cerrado which underline the dessert’s chocolate taste. If you don’t enjoy the taste of espresso, you can also try the Toleyo, a rich and spicy filter coffee blend from Columbia, Indonesia and Laos. If you like your coffee just a touch milder, Karibu may be for you. Karibu coffee is reminiscent of dark chocolate in its taste. To achieve this, we combined the best qualities of three countries: you can taste the sweetness of Ethiopian coffee, the spiciness of Brazil and the fruitiness of Kenya. Bon appetit!
