Mushroom and Asparagus Toast Cups

After I made citrus peel that was such a gourmet trend back in the 70’s I thought I would post another recipe from that era.  And it’s one I mentioned in that same blog post where proficient home cooks wouldn’t just serve something from a jar, or even serve a pickled onion and cube of cheese stabbed onto a toothpick left dangling from an orange, but would actually create their own appetisers.

Toast Cups

Toast Cups

A recipe I remember my mother serving was toast cups.  These are fairly simple to make and you can make them in a variety of flavours like chicken,  tuna and parsley, or cheese, bacon and tomato.  I’ve made vegetarian toast cups using mushrooms and asparagus.

Rolling the bread to flatten it a little

Rolling the bread to flatten it a little and someone needs a manicure

The toast cups are fairly inexpensive to make, use easy-to-source ingredients and can be made in advance and then re-heated prior to serving.  As they are served straight from the oven, do warn your guests that the filling can retain a lot of heat.

Bread put in greased muffin tins

Bread moulded into greased muffin tins

I’ve seen other versions where the bread is cut into rounds but I prefer squashing square bread into a round hole as it gives a much more interesting (and irregular) shape to the end result.

Ready for a bit of heat

Ready for a bit of heat

If you’re thinking of hosting a 70’s party, I think these toast cups would be absolutely ideal.  Even better in a range of flavours.  So crank up Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night and Don McLean’s Starry Starry Night and cook like it’s 1972.

Straight out of the oven

Straight out of the oven

5.0 from 4 reviews
Mushroom and Asparagus Toast Cups
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetiser
Cuisine: The 70s Revisited
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: Makes 18
 
Mushroom and Asparagus Toast Cups. An appetiser from the 70's.
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 1 shallot (spring onion), roughly sliced
  • 30gm butter
  • 2 onions finely sliced
  • 175gm mushrooms, sliced
  • 60gm butter plus extra
  • ¼ cup plain flour
  • 1 cup tasty cheese
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 340gm can asparagus spears drained and cut into 2cm pieces
  • 18 slices of white bread, crusts removed
  • 1 bunch chives
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180C (375F).
  2. In a small saucepan combine milk, peppercorns and shallots. Bring to the boil then allow to stand for 5 minutes.
  3. In a medium sized saucepan, melt butter (30gm) then add onions. Cook until translucent then add mushrooms and cook until soft. Remove mixture and set aside.
  4. Using the same saucepan and over medium heat, melt butter (60gm) and heat until foaming. Add flour and stir until smooth. Gradually stir in strained milk and allow to boil and thicken. Add cheese and stir until melted.
  5. Add sour cream, asparagus and mushroom mixture. Season, then stir until well combined.
  6. Gently flatten each slice of bread with a rolling pin.
  7. Melt extra butter and lightly grease 2 muffin tins.
  8. Place bread slices into muffin tins then place in the oven for a couple of minutes to ensure the base of the bread is is lightly toasted and won't become soggy when the mixture is added.
  9. Remove muffin tins from the oven. Fill each bread toast with a heaped tablespoon of filling then place in the oven for 15 mins or until golden.
  10. Remove from oven, top with a few chopped chives and enjoy hot.
Vegetarian, asparagus and mushroom

Vegetarian, asparagus and mushroom

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Ready to serve

Ready to serve

Comments

  1. Love, Love, Lovin’ the retro posts….I’m going to make corn and asparagus ones! 🙂 Thanks for sharing! Liz x

  2. G’day Love retro posts! Love and loved the 70’s Charlie!
    You just gave me a new theme for a future party! Great appetizers!
    Cheers! Joanne

  3. The toast cups look like such a good idea. I’ve never seen them before, but they look easy to do and to improvise with. Thanks for the recipe.

  4. I have never seen these, but really love the idea! I would definitely take the squashing-bread-into-the pan approach too…I really like the shapes you ended up with, and know I would not be able to cope with fiddly cutting out of bread!

  5. Loving these retro recipes… I have not had one of these toast cups in ages. A fun and delicious appetiser and so easy…

  6. I remember toast cups, haven’t had one in years. I too prefer the square bread in a round muffin cup, definitely more interesting.

  7. Old fashioned but delicious. The square bread in a round muffin cup does make the result more interesting.

  8. Far out man. Like for sure… 😉 xo

  9. Such a fab idea for parties. Will definitely have to remember this for next time!

  10. If I wasn’t going to the Real Food Festival in 30 minutes, I would make a cheeseball complete with pineapple! I will. I swear. I’ve been thinking about it since your last retro post. 🙂 I would LOVE these little tarts. I suppose that dates me and rightly so.

  11. Love these appetizers, they look like they are not to complicated to make and would add to the fun.

  12. I’ve made something similar with a mushroom and thyme filling..they’re really terrific. I know yours are, too!!!

  13. Aww I love all of this retro stuff! We had a whole dinner party with the theme and it was so much fun! 😀

  14. I remember these little tarts well. They were all the rage when Asparugus in cans was the only kind you could get

  15. I think we made these in Home Ec at school Charlie! They definitely wouldn’t be authentic if you used fresh asparagus, tinned is the only way to go for sure 🙂 xox

  16. yum! My best friend makes these for parties and I always wolf down faaaar too many. #love

  17. Reckon I could enjoy these as a main meal.
    Have a wonderful day Charlie.
    🙂 Mandy xo

  18. this looks like a fun finger food – I am sure my mum used to make it as the rolling out the bread brought back memories – have bookmarked ti but rarely buy tinned asparagus as I find it too soggy but seeing we are coming into asparagus season soon (hurrha) maybe I might make it with fresh

  19. Retro and fun. Makes me want to head to the kitchen to recreate them right now!

  20. They look great! I don’t know if it is from the 70s or 80s but I made old school French onion dip on the weekend for a dinner party after being very uninspired by what the local supermarket had on offer. I use the term ‘made’ but really all I did was mix a tub of sour cream with a packet of French onion soup mix and voila, a tasty dip which was well received by guests!

  21. I could snack on these all the time, even if they contain mushrooms 😛
    They look so delicious and golden!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  22. So simple & tasty & yummy. Some things hold their own no matter what era they come from.

  23. This kind of retro appetizer never goes out of style!

  24. Even though I read your headline – I was not expecting that those cups were made out of bread – they are adorable – this is my first time seeing anything like this!

  25. those look amazing!

  26. These look delicious, Charlie! And could easily be done with gluten free bread as well. Nice for a light dinner with a salad too. Yummy!

  27. American version:
    My mother’s recipe from the 1960s/1970s below.
    (I’ll have to give the Australian Toast Cups a try.)

    Asparagus Canapes

    20 slices thin white bread (Pepperidge Farm brand Thin Sandwich Bread)
    3 ounces blue cheese
    8 ounces (Philadelphia brand) cream cheese
    1 egg
    1 can asparagus (Green Giant brand in the USA)
    1/2 pound butter

    Trim crusts from bread and flatten with rolling pin. Blend cheeses and egg to working consistency and spread on bread. Roll bread around asparagus and fasten with a toothpick. Dip in melted butter to coat thoroughly. Place rolls on cookie sheet and freeze. When frozen, cut in half. Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes until browned.

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