Straight from the Mark & Sheri DuMond Site: "Bruschetta ala DuMond"

Here's one we lifted directly from the Sheri & Mark DuMond blog (http://markandsheri.blogspot.com). It's one of those dishes you can make whatever way you want, depending on what you have on hand.

First of all, please realize that bruschetta comes in thousands of combinations and varieties. Every time we make it, it's different from any other time we make it. The recipe below is simply a guideline and represents how we did it the last time we made it. Try new and different combinations each time you have bruschetta!

Makes 4 servings.

12 slices (1/2 inch thick) bread cut from a large baguette
2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 cup herbed white beans (click here for recipe)
2 portobello mushrooms
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

2 ripe tomatoes, sliced into eight slices
12 spears asparagus, trimmed of thick woody ends
1/4 lb. medium cheddar cheese, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, cored, roasted and peeled
1/4 lb. fresh mozzarella, thickly sliced
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 lb. fresh spinach, stemmed

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Brush each bread slice with olive oil. Place on a non-stick baking sheet and put in oven for about five minutes, until the slices begin to toast. Remove from oven and set aside.

Bump the oven temp up to 45o.

Brush the portobello mushrooms with oil and grill until cooked through and well grill-marked. Slice the mushrooms so you have about 16 slices. (You can saute sliced portobellos if you can't grill, but grilling is always better.)

Smear four bread slices with the herbed bean mixture, top with four slices of mushroom, and scatter goat cheese on top. Put the slices on the baking sheet while prepping the other bruschettas.

Grill the trimmed asparagus spears until cooked through and grill-marked. Place two slices of tomato each on four slices of toasted bread. Top each with three asparagus spears, and top each with sliced cheddar to cover. Set these four on the baking sheet while prepping the final bruschettas.

Roughly chop or slice the roasted bell pepper. Heat the olive oil in a no-stick skillet. Add the minced garlic and cook for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the lemon juice and the spinach. Cook a couple minutes more until the spinach is completely wilted and cooked down and the liquids have evaporated. Top each of the remaining four bread slices with garlicky spinach, followed by roasted red pepper, and top each with sliced fresh mozzarella.

Add these four bruschettas to the baking sheet and put it in the oven. Keep an eye on the bruschettas so nothing burns. After several minutes, check every minute, and remove when most of the cheeses look melted and bubbly.

Serve each person one each of the three different bruschettas. They go great with either a Caesar or Mediterranean salad.