Mushrooms work especially well mingled with the flavor of onion, garlic and a little salt and pepper.  Duxelles—the classic French preparation that includes a butter and white wine in the mix–is one step better. Add some spinach and phyllo crisps and you have a knock-out appetizer.

Makes 24 phyllo tarts

Ingredients

• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp water
• 8 ounces finely-chopped mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 Tbsp chopped chives
• 1 cup of white wine
• 2 cups torn baby spinach leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4-inch squares of fresh, paper-thin phyllo dough
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. To make, saute chopped onion & chopped garlic with butter, olive oil and water until transparent. Add finely-chopped mushrooms and cook until almost dry.
2. Add chopped parsley and chopped chives. Add white wine and cook until almost dry.
3. Stir in torn baby spinach leaves and mix until spinach is wilted. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cut a stack of 4-inch squares of fresh, paper-thin phyllo dough. Brush with olive oil (or, melted butter if you choose) Using a mini-muffin pan, fold and tuck two squares of phyllo, one across the other, criss-cross style and overlapping to ensure no gaps, into each muffin-pan indentation. Fill each with mushroom mixture. Bake for 8 minutes at 400 until golden brown and crispy.