The dish to eat in Logroño · Spain

Champis

Name: Logroño champis (griddled garlic mushrooms on bread)
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 (8 pintxos)
Cuisine: Spain
Ingredients: 24 white button mushrooms, about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) across, stems removed, wiped clean; 8 small raw shrimp, peeled; 8 slices baguette, cut on an angle, 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick; For the garlic sauce: 5 tbsp mild olive oil, 4 garlic cloves very finely minced, 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley, a squeeze of lemon, a pinch of salt; Coarse salt; 8 long toothpicks

Photo: jynus, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons · source

Griddled mushroom caps stacked on bread with a garlic, parsley and oil sauce, topped with a tiny shrimp.

Logroño's Calle Laurel is a street of tiny bars each famous for one pintxo, and the most famous is the champi: three mushrooms on a toothpick, dripping garlic butter.

Where to eat it Cook it at home

Where to eat it: the best three in Logroño

Bar Ángel
Calle Laurel
Order: The champi, one per person, with a glass of Rioja
The bar that made the champi famous; the cook works the griddle nonstop.
Open in Maps
Bar Soriano
Travesía de Laurel
Order: Champiñones a la plancha, the only thing they serve
A one-dish bar, open since 1972, that only makes mushrooms.
Open in Maps
La Taberna del Laurel
Calle Laurel
Order: The patatas bravas, Laurel's other legend
The next stop on any crawl, for bravas with its famous spicy sauce.
Open in Maps

All three are on Chef Amazing’s list The best champis in Logroño, which you can save and take with you.

Cook it at home: Logroño champis (griddled garlic mushrooms on bread)

Serves 4 (8 pintxos)Time 25 min

Use white button mushrooms of the same size, stems removed. They cook gill side up first, so the cup fills with juice, then get flipped to brown. The garlic sauce goes on at the end.

Pans and tools

Flat griddle or cast-iron pan
Tongs
Toothpicks

You’ll need

24 white button mushrooms, about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) across, stems removed, wiped clean
8 small raw shrimp, peeled
8 slices baguette, cut on an angle, 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick
For the garlic sauce: 5 tbsp mild olive oil, 4 garlic cloves very finely minced, 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley, a squeeze of lemon, a pinch of salt
Coarse salt
8 long toothpicks

Steps

Mix the garlic sauce ingredients in a small bowl and let them sit 10 minutes.
Heat a large griddle or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and brush with a little oil.
Lay the mushrooms on the griddle, gill side up (the hollow facing up). Sprinkle with coarse salt. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, until they soften and the hollows fill with their juice.
Turn them over carefully and cook 2 minutes, until golden. Turn back over (gill side up). Cook the shrimp alongside, 1 minute per side.
Toast the bread on the griddle until golden on one side.
Thread 3 mushrooms onto each toothpick, topped with a shrimp, and stand each skewer on a slice of bread.
Spoon the garlic sauce generously over the mushrooms so it soaks the bread, and serve at once, while the mushrooms still hold their juice. Eat the whole thing in two bites, carefully.

Chef’s tips

Choose very fresh, tight mushrooms; open ones won't hold the juice.

Bar Ángel's secret is the juice in the cups. Never crowd the griddle, or they steam.

Serve with a young Rioja (joven) like the Laurel bars.

Contains: Wheat, shellfish.

Save to my recipes