Mushroom Cheese Bread -- The Kitchen That Grows

I drove to Grinnell Saturday. Roger was in the garden — the garden that is his whole world now, the 85-year-old man who tends six tomato plants and twelve sunflowers with the same care he once gave four hundred acres. He's slower but he's still Roger. He still watches the crop reports. He still calls Jack on Wednesdays.

Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made sourdough bread earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.

January. The real winter. Dark and cold, the wind off the prairie personal in its grudge. We endure with soup and blankets and the belief that spring comes eventually. I made bread — sourdough from the starter named Marlene, the bread rising in a warm kitchen while Iowa does its worst outside.

I said the kitchen doesn’t only look backward — and I meant it. Marlene the sourdough starter is one kind of growing. But sometimes the kitchen grows sideways, into something new and savory and unapologetically rich. After a Saturday in Grinnell, after January doing its worst outside, I wanted bread that felt like more than sustenance — bread with weight to it, with earthiness, with cheese melted into every bite. This Mushroom Cheese Bread was that bread. It belonged to that week the way tater tot hotdish belongs to Thursday.

Mushroom Cheese Bread

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 loaf (about 1 lb) Italian or French bread, halved lengthwise
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cups cremini or button mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat. Heat your oven to 375°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and set aside.
2. Cook the mushrooms. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the sliced mushrooms in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 3–4 minutes until browned. Stir, then continue cooking 3 more minutes. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and thyme; cook 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat, and stir in the parsley.
3. Prepare the bread. Place both bread halves cut-side up on the prepared baking sheet. Divide the mushroom mixture evenly across both halves, spreading it all the way to the edges.
4. Add the cheese. Combine the mozzarella and cheddar, then scatter evenly over the mushroom-topped bread. Finish with a dusting of Parmesan over each half.
5. Bake. Transfer to the oven and bake for 18—22 minutes, until the cheese is fully melted, bubbling, and lightly golden at the edges.
6. Slice and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 3 minutes. Cut each half crosswise into 4 pieces and serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 290 | Protein: 12g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 480mg