Mushrooms on toast is a real favourite of mine. It was one of the first ‘dishes’ that I learnt to cook at home with my mum.
This version is right in time for the spring season, using St George’s mushrooms and wild garlic, but you can vary the ingredients, depending on the season’s available wild mushrooms. Or just use the always-dependable and very tasty button mushrooms with sorrel or spinach instead of wild garlic. The Parmesan cheese has a wonderful dairy acidity that cuts through the richness of this dish.
I like to toast my sourdough bread on a cast-iron grill pan for that appetizing ‘burnt’ bar marking flavour, but use the grill if you don’t have the pan.
Serves 4
75g butter
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 banana shallot, finely chopped
400g St George’s mushrooms, wiped and trimmed – nice small ones are best but if you can only get large ones, halve them
truffle oil, to taste
100ml double cream
100g wild garlic leaves
3 tablespoons very finely chopped parsley leaves
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
lemon juice, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
4 pieces of sourdough bread, toasted, to serve
100g Parmesan cheese, to serve
Melt the butter with the rapeseed oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and fry, stirring, for 2–3 minutes until the shallot is just softened. Add the St George’s mushrooms, increase the heat to high and fry, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until they are just tender. Add the double cream and a splash of truffle oil and leave the cream to bubble until the mushrooms are glazed and creamy.
Stir in the wild garlic leaves, parsley and chives. Season and add lemon juice to taste. Spoon the mushroom mix on top of the hot pieces of toast. Grate the Parmesan cheese over the tops and serve immediately.