Wild Mushroom Cups are a perfect vegetarian snack for a fancy cocktail party.

Wild Mushroom Cups are inspired by a burrito-sized appetizer that I loved back at Sleepy Hollow Inn in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Deer would drink water from a flowing stream only 20 feet from the dinning room tables. The setting was beautiful. I worked there as a server. The Chef was a little cranky and since I messed up most of the orders, he really didn’t care for me. But I loved his food. I always pushed him to describe all of the flavors in detail to me so I could relay this info to the guests. My strengths have alway been to find out everything about everything then describe the best part of these things in a simple way.

It was a  typical Saturday night at the restaurant. I messed up 2 or 3 orders and the Chef had it with me. He didn’t even want to look at me that night. I could tell that he was ready to flip. So naturally around 8pm with not an empty seat in the house, I continued to ask him exactly how he prepared his Wild Mushroom Strudel. He flipped. It was one of those moments from an 80s movie when the whole room watched while one character goes nutz on another character. Lucky for me (and you) instead of berating me or something negative like that, he dropped everything in the middle of the busiest 5 minutes of the week to scream out in extreme detail exactly how he prepared his Mushroom Strudel that day. I said thank you, messed up a few more orders, got fired, finished Art School, moved to NYC and never forgot that recipe. I just fit it into a bit-sized party snack.

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Reduce balsamic vinegar on low heat by half. Cool. In separate large skillet, sauté garlic, shallot and mushrooms for 8 minutes. Cool. Mix in mozzarella, Parmesan, thyme, parsley, nutmeg and honey. Spread phyllo dough cups out on a baking sheet. Spoon mushroom mixture into cups. Bake until golden brown.

Top with goat cheese and balsamic reduction.