Friday Fungus: Oyster mushroom and grape warm salad

I chanced to be at Mr Cohen’s grocery on Canal Road seeking shaving oil, red wine and bubble bath as one does. And there, languishing in one of the aisles, I found a tray of “mixed oyster mushrooms” (on examination they didn’t seem very mixed but never mind). And this is what I did to them once I had liberated them from the Cohen Emporium. I used:

8oz Oyster mushrooms (you don’t have to get them from Tesco)
3oz Regular* mushrooms (I had some in the fridge for emergencies)
A sweet red pepper
A tomato
2 shallots
Plain olive oil
Nudo Lemon infused olive oil (you could make a lemon and oil dressing if you prefer)
Salt & black pepper
Green dessert grapes – about 10

Slice the shallots nice and thinly and soften in the heated oil. Roughly chop the mushrooms (not too small, big chunks are best). Thinly slice the red pepper. Chop the tomato (don’t be tempted to slice – it’s not a sandwich you’re making).

Add the mushrooms, salt and black pepper to the softened shallots (I added a dash more oil at this point as mushrooms tend to slurp it up). Cover and leave to cook for 3-5 minutes. While you’re doing this slice each of the grapes in half.

Add the sliced pepper and tomato and cover again for about a minute – enough to warm the salad but not to cook it! Dump the whole lot in a big salad bowl, add the grapes and a generous amount of the lemon oil, and mix thoroughly.

Serve and eat. I had a nice glass of (from memory) Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with this – seemed to work OK.

*Political note – some British MPs led by Greg Mulholland want to ban the word regular because we might get confused. They are stupid.

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