Friday, October 2, 2009

Focaccia with Portobello Mushrooms and Crispy Sage

My job was rained out today and yesterday, which hasn't happened for months. Although it's pretty early in the fall to start having rain or snow days, I can't say I don't love the idea of a surprise four-day weekend :)

Since I knew I'd have some time on my hands, I decided to bake bread. I also have a beautiful sage plant in the garden, so this focaccia recipe from Lynne Rosetto Kasper's The Italian Country Table looked like a good idea. The recipe calls for 30 fresh sage leaves, fried to a light crisp in olive oil, and topping the bread along with mushrooms and garlic.

I've made focaccia a couple of times before, but this was my favorite. It might be because of the accidental mix of flours - using what I had on hand in half-empty bags, this contains whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, and spelt flour. This was absolutely delicious, especially straight out of the oven, and accompanied with Kasper's recommendation of a little red wine. If only every day was a day off.

I'll steal a paragraph from Lynne to close out - she has a wonderful way of presenting food in a cultural context that somehow makes the results even more enjoyable:

"So what is focaccia? In my Italian dictionary, similar words reveal an intriguing pattern. Focolaio means focus, hotbed, center of all. Focolare is hearth, fireplace, home and focus. In Italy, they say, "I return to my hearth," when telling of going back home. The word focaccia can embrace all low breads and tarts, leavened or unleavened, that are baked on a griddle like a pancake, baked in shallow pans buried in embers on the hearth or baked in the oven."

- from The Italian Country Table, by Lynne Rosetto Kasper

11 comments:

nora said...

Wow, I've never cooked with whole sage leaves! And frying them! it's such an interesting technique--and it looks and sounds delicious!

The Voracious Vegan said...

WOW! I would love to make this, I love portabello mushrooms and sage is one of my favorite spices. Gorgeous photo!

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

This is the most delicious looking focaccia I've ever seen! That paragraph from the book is lovely.

I hope you're enjoying your long weekend! :-)

Jain said...

It looks amazing! Great photo, I can ~almost~ smell it.

Debra said...

This looks amazing!!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

oh yum that looks amazing.

Tami said...

Oh man, crispy sage leaves and portobellos... with a glass of red wine....that's perfect.

Lovlie said...

Wow that looks so delicious! The smell must have been very nice!

Anonymous said...

Love 4 day weekends.
Love focaccia.
Love mushrooms.
Love crispy sage.

Ideally we should have more 4 day weekends and I get to eat the delicious grubs you make:)

Anonymous said...

This is so beautiful.

Margo said...

I love the idea of the crispy sage and portabello mushrooms! It looks delicious.