Cafe Food at Home: Garlic mushrooms on toast with rocket and fetta

I have a love/hate relationship with cafes. On one hand, I love to eat at good cafes to enjoy that friendly, bustling ambiance that only cafes seem to have; I also like to people watch and perve on the surroundings. I also really like to eat cafe food but ah, here's the rub: at too many cafes I've looked at the menu and thought "I could make that at home, and better".

Yes, I know the point of eating at a cafe is to relax and enjoy the fact you're not cooking, and I probably sound quite arrogant saying "I could cook this better". Sadly, it's often been true. But the upside is that cafe eating (and sometimes just reading a menu) often inspires me to try to recreate some luscious description at home.

Take the dish pictured above, for example. It's on the all-day breakfast menu at one of my favourite local cafes, Wild Honey, in my current home town. I've eaten it for lunch once or twice with that "you should try this at home" thought echoing in my head. So one day I did, adding my own personal touches, and it made for a delicious breakfast for a Saturday morning, washed down with some freshly squeezed orange juice. And I didn't even have to get out of my pyjamas...

The original dish at my cafe features foccacia bread, toasted and smeared with soft fetta, then topped with grilled mushrooms and lots of rocket. It left me about $8 out of pocket.

My version is a little different. I sliced up five mushrooms and tossed them into a pan with a tiny knob of olive oil spread, half a garlic clove minced up and some fresh thyme from the garden. You then just keep stirring the mushies around the pan until brown and the garlicky , herby butter has melted. I then toasted a piece of sourdough rye bread and smeared it with some soft Danish fetta (it needs to be the soft stuff so you can spread it over) Top with mushrooms, then top with fetta and breakfast is ready.

Now, doing the sums for my breakfast...

Bread - from a loaf of organic Hope Farm bread - about 20c for the slice

Fetta - from the supermarket deli - I bought about 100g for 89c and used half, so about 45c

Mushrooms - from the greengrocer - about 80c for almost 100g

Butter - don't think my serve even ranks in the cent mark!

Thyme - from the garden, so technically free.

Garlic - very small bit, so maybe 10c worth?

Rocket - same as the thyme

TOTAL COST - $1.55

Wow! Pretty crazy huh? It would probably cost more if you don't grow your own thyme and rocket like I do (my "kitchen garden" is a whole other series of posts!) but it's still startling to see the difference between home cooked and cafe when you put it into dollar figures like that. Must admit since I made it at home I haven't been able to bring myself to buy it again...

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice treat to go out to a cafe for an indulgent breakfast or lunch every now and again. But it's equally nice to know you can create the cafe experience at home too for when times are tough and the budget is tight.