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Chanterelle toast on fried sourdough topped with chives and red onion rings

Chanterelle Toast on Sourdough

Golden chanterelle toast on buttery fried sourdough — a simple Nordic autumn lunch made with two-day-old bread.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 2 toasts
Course: Appetizer, Lunch, Snack
Cuisine: Nordic, Norwegian, Scandinavian
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Toast
  • 2 slices sourdough bread ½ inch (1 cm) thick, two days old
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil
Chanterelles
  • 200 g fresh chanterelles 7 oz
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • ¼ tsp sugar
  • 1 small shallot about 30 g / 1 oz, finely chopped
  • ½ tsp salt or to taste
  • ¼ tsp black pepper freshly ground
  • 2 tbsp chives finely chopped
To serve
  • 6 thin red onion rings
  • 2 tbsp chives finely chopped

Equipment

  • Mushroom brush Chanterelles hold water like a sponge — brush them, never rinse them.
  • Small paring knife For trimming stem ends and splitting larger mushrooms.
  • Carbon steel or cast iron skillet Holds heat when the mushrooms hit the pan, so they sear instead of steam.
  • Serrated bread knife For clean ½-inch slices from a rustic loaf.
  • Wire rack The fried bread rests on it so the underside stays crisp.

Method
 

  1. Clean the chanterelles. Brush them clean with a mushroom brush and trim the stem ends. Split any large ones lengthwise so all the pieces are roughly the same size. Don't rinse them.
  2. Fry the bread. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the sourdough slices until deep golden and crisp on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Set aside on a rack so the bottom stays crisp.
  3. Sear the mushrooms. Wipe out the pan and add fresh oil and butter over high heat. Add the chanterelles in a single layer and leave them alone for a minute before stirring — you want color, not steam.
  4. Season. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the sugar. Cook 3–4 minutes until the edges are browned.
  5. Add the shallot. Cook one minute more, until it turns glossy and translucent.
  6. Finish. Stir in the chives and take the pan off the heat.
  7. Assemble. Pile the chanterelles onto the toast. Finish with the fresh chives and a few thin red onion rings.

Notes

Chef's tip: the pinch of sugar is the whole trick. Chanterelles carry a faint bitterness that gets sharper as they brown, and a quarter teaspoon of sugar rounds it off without making the dish sweet — you'll taste more mushroom, not more sugar.
Foraging? Only cook wild mushrooms you can identify with certainty. In North America, the toxic jack-o'-lantern mushroom grows in the same season and can look similar to a chanterelle. If in doubt, buy them from a trusted source.