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Mushrooms with tahini yoghurt, kale, peanut and fish sauce pesto and dill oil
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 500g mixed Asian and British mushrooms
- 4tbsp sunflower oil
- handful Thai basil leaves, washed and dried well
- 3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 2-3tsp fish sauce
For the dill oil
- 60-75g dill
- 150ml extra virgin olive oil
For the tahini yoghurt
- 200g super-thick natural yoghurt
- 4tbsp tahini
- 1tbsp fish sauce
- 1tbsp lime juice
For the kale pesto
- 120g curly kale
- 2 garlic cloves
- 60g unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped
- 10g coriander leaves
- 10g Thai basil leaves
- 150ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2tbsp lime juice
- 11/2tbsp fish sauce
Method
SERVES 4 AS A STARTER OR SMALL PLATE
Start 1 day before serving
The day – or up to a week – before, make the dill oil. With a bowl of cold water and ice cubes to hand, pick the leafy parts from the dill stems and blanch in a pan of boiling water for a few seconds. Drain well, then plunge straight into the bowl of iced water for 5 minutes to set the colour.
Drain well, pat dry, transfer to a liquidiser with the oil and process finely. Strain through a muslin-lined sieve overnight, then transfer to an airtight container until ready to serve.
Meanwhile, prepare the tahini yoghurt. Put the yoghurt in a bowl and stir in the tahini – it will go quite firm - then add the fish sauce and lime juice to loosen. If you need to make it thinner to get a spreadable consistency, either add a little more lime juice or a splash of water. It will keep, covered, in the fridge for a few days.
On the day of serving, make the pesto. With a bowl of cold water and ice cubes to hand, remove the curly kale leaves from the thick stems. Blanch the kale by plunging into a pan of boiling water for 5 minutes. Immediately drain through a colander, then plunge straight into the bowl of iced water for 5 minutes to set the colour.
Drain well, squeeze as much water from the kale as possible and chop. Transfer to a liquidiser along with the other ingredients and pulse to a fine texture.
Just before you’re ready to serve, trim the mushrooms, slicing any large ones.
In a small frying pan, heat the sunflower oil, add the dried basil leaves and fry for a few seconds until they appear transparent. Scoop on to a plate lined with kitchen paper to crisp up.
Heat a large frying pan, add the olive oil and then the mushrooms - you may need to cook them in batches. Fry for around 2 minutes until they take on some colour, then stir in the garlic for 1 minute. Add the fish sauce and stir until it evaporates.
Spoon the tahini yoghurt on to serving plates. Arrange the mushrooms over half of each plate and spoon over some kale pesto, crispy leaves and a little dill oil.
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