Mushroom, Pear & Cavolo Nero Toasts with Walnuts {vegan}

These scrumptious brunch toasts are topped with earthy mushrooms and slightly bitter cavolo nero which contrast beautifully with sweet pear and leeks. The finishing touch is a sprinkling of toasted walnuts.

One of the things I particularly love about mushrooms, apart from how amazingly good they are for you, is how versatile they are. They are completely at home on your plate at breakfast, lunch or dinner, and always fantastic.

Today I’m wandering down the breakfast/ brunch path with a recipe for mushroom toasts with pear, cavolo nero and walnuts. They fit the bill perfectly as far as a comforting, and slightly decadent winter breakfast goes. Think weekend breakfast following a morning at the farmers markets, or brunch with friends.

I’m partnering with Australian Mushroom Growers Association this month to get the word out about mushrooms and vitamin D, and have developed this mushroom toast recipe to highlight just one of the many delicious ways you can add mushrooms to your diet and fulfil your daily vitamin D needs.

With 1 in 3 Australians being vitamin D deficient, and as winter sets in, and we naturally spend less time outdoors, Australian Mushroom Growers were excited by the results of a recent study conducted by Sydney university into vitamin D and mushrooms. The study found that when mushrooms are exposed to direct midday sunlight they generate vitmain D in a similar manner in which humans do, and that a serving of just 3 button mushrooms that have been exposed to midday sunlight provide 100% of an adults daily vitamin D requirements.

As a result, Australian mushroom farmers have now developed a way to stimulate vitamin D production with just 2 seconds of pulsed UV light. These specially produced Vitamin D mushrooms are now available at major supermarkets throughout Australia and are a wonderful natural way to boost your intake without resorting to supplements.

The good news is that with 2 of these toast slices you’ve got your daily intake covered! Now all you need to do is make them!

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Mushroom, Pear & Cavolo Nero Toasts

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 4

Author Jennifer Schmidt

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
• 8 slices of sourdough bread
• olive oil
• 2 pears sliced
• 1 leek sliced
• 12 leaves of cavolo nero also called tuscan cabbage or tuscan kale
• juice of half a lemon
• 16 swiss brown mushrooms sliced
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Instructions

1. Begin by toasting the walnuts. Place a large frying pan over a low heat and toast until lightly golden and fragrant. Place in a small dish to cool.
2. Return the pan to the heat and increase to a medium low heat. Brush each slice of sourdough with olive oil and toast until golden. I find using a fish slice helpful to push down the bread so that the whole slice toasts evenly, otherwise I find the crust tends to toast much quicker than the center. Flip the bread and toast on the other side before placing on a plate.
3. Increase the heat to medium low, add the pear slices to the pan, cooking on each side for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly golden.
4. Trim the tender leaves from the cavolo nero and chop the stalks. Add 2 tbs olive oil to the pan and add the leek and cavolo nero stalks. Cook until the leeks are soft and the stalks are tender. Add the leaves and cook until they start to soften (they will turn bright green at this point) and add the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the pan and place in a bowl and keep warm.
5. Crank the heat up to high and add 1 tbs olive oil. Add 1/3 of the mushrooms, making sure that they are not overlapping in the pan, and leave for 1 to 2 minutes before stirring. The mushrooms should be lightly golden. Cook for a further minute before removing from the pan and placing in the bowl along with the leeks and cavolo nero and repeating with the second batch.
6. Assemble the toasts by topping the toast with slices of pear. Toss the mushrooms, leeks and cavolo nero and season to taste. Divide between the 8 slices of toast. Top with the toasted walnuts and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Recipe Notes

It's important to use a pear here that is ripe, but not overly so, otherwise they will fall apart when cooked.

If you can't get your hands on cavolo nero substitute with kale, baby spinach or rocket (arugula).

DISCLOSURE: This post was sponsored by Australian Mushroom Growers Association as part of their Mushrooms for Heart Health campaign. All opinions are my own. I just love mushrooms!