I’m not afraid

With her latest lab results in, my mother had asked me to stop with the baking. For the first time her fasting blood sugar count was higher than mine. Just by a negligible point, mind you, but still. She fingered bread as the culprit.

What could I say? For two weeks I had been baking like bonkers. Even when my focaccia turned out to be more biscuit than bread, she was more than happy to oblige. Nothing that some margarine couldn't fix.

I love margarine. Maybe as much as butter. Maybe more, even. But it just ain’t romantic. Italian bread — even the kind an Italian wouldn’t recognize if it slapped him in the face and sang the score to Pagliacci — demands better, something more in keeping with la dolce vita. Like mushrooms. And cheese sauce. And a drizzle of truffle oil to finish it off. The combination is a bit messy to eat but it works. Never mind if I used shiitake mushrooms, which are decidedly Asian. Or that cheddar is as English as cricket. It's the spirit that counts. Too bad that kind of number doesn’t show up in our lab work.

(I made a new batch of focaccia for this recipe. True to form, I messed up. I put in butter when the recipe called for none because I thought I read “butter” in there, and I had to put in more flour as the dough was too wet. The resulting bread was much darker with a crumbly crust — a cross between focaccia and dinner rolls. For a near-disaster, it was not at all bad.

A note on the sauce: I thought it looked pale so I mixed in a tablespoon of cheese powder. Do me a favor — don’t. Now you know where Cheez Whiz gets its distinctive hue from. Another thing to keep in mind is to stop cooking the sauce short of it getting to “desired thickness” stage. Let it sit for a few minutes and it will thicken eventually.)

Cheesy Mushroom Tartines

These make a great party appetizer/entrée, loaded with umami from the mushrooms, cheese, and truffle oil. Serve alongside a simple green salad with more of the cheese sauce as a dip. Recipe is from Food52, with modifications.

• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms (stems removed), julienned
• 1 yellow onion, julienned
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and ground black pepper, to taste


• 8 pieces 1″ thick slices focaccia or any crusty bread
• 1 ripe tomato, halved and sliced thickly
• truffle oil

For the sauce:
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup cheddar cheese, grated
• salt, to taste

For the salad:
• baby romaine lettuce, washed and spun dry
• Parmesan cheese, shaved

1. Put a pan over high heat and pour in oil. Add mushrooms and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Toss in the onions and sauté until wilted. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Remove from pan and set aside.
2. Stir milk and heavy cream into a saucepan over medium heat and cook until simmering. Add cheese and turn off heat. Stir well and let stand for a few minutes until cheese has completely melted. Whisk every now and then until mixture thickens. Salt to taste, then strain the sauce to remove any solids.
3. Toast bread slices until golden-brown. Put a slice per plate. Place two slices of tomato on top with the cut (straight) side aligned with the straight edge of the bread. Top with mushrooms and drizzle with cheese sauce and a few drops of truffle oil.
4. Arrange some lettuce on the side and garnish with shaved Parmesan. Serve with extra cheese sauce to dip lettuce in.