Mushroom Duxelle with Pickled Mushrooms Recipe

This inventive dish is a love letter to funghi, with a rich mushroom duxelle, pickled mushrooms and raw sliced button mushrooms complemented by earthy Jerusalem artichoke purée and crisps. Serve at a vegan dinner party to prove you don't need animal products to create beautiful plates of food. This dish is by Rob Howell, head chef at Josh Eggleton's restaurant Root.

Pickled mushrooms
60ml of white wine vinegar
40g of caster sugar
20ml of water
20ml of white wine
10 button mushrooms
Mushroom duxelle
500g of flat field mushrooms
3 shallots, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, puréed
1 sprig of thyme, leaves picked
1 dash of rapeseed oil
cep powder
salt
pepper
Artichoke purée
500g of Jerusalem artichoke
100ml of rapeseed oil
salt
Artichoke crisps
5 Jerusalem artichokes
rapeseed oil, for deep-frying
salt
To serve
10 button mushrooms

print recipe

shopping List

Mandoline
10cm ring mould
Blender

To begin, pickle the mushrooms. Bring all the ingredients (except the mushrooms) to the boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before transferring to a container. Finely slice the mushrooms on a mandoline or with a knife and submerge in the pickling liquid. Leave to pickle for 1–2 hours

Make the duxelle by either finely chopping or pulsing the mushrooms in a food processor. Add a dash of rapeseed oil to a saucepan, place over a medium heat and add the shallots and garlic. Sweat down until lightly softened, then add the chopped thyme and mushrooms. Cook on a low heat and season generously with salt, pepper and cep powder

To make the purée, peel and thinly slice the artichokes. Add the rapeseed oil to a hot saucepan with the artichokes and a generous pinch of salt. Cook over a high heat, stirring regularly until they start to colour and soften. Once golden, add 300ml of water to the pan and cook until the artichokes are completely soft. Lift the artichokes out of the pan using a slotted spoon and place in a blender. Blitz to a silky-smooth purée, adjusting the consistency with some of the cooking liquid if necessary. Season to taste and keep warm

Preheat a deep-fryer or deep pan of oil to 160°C

To make the crispy artichokes, wash the artichokes and slice finely using a mandoline. Add the slices to the hot oil, stirring frequently to achieve an even colour. Once perfectly golden, drain and place the crisps on a tray lined with kitchen paper or a J-cloth to remove any excess oil. Season well

Slice the remaining button mushrooms evenly on a mandoline and set aside

To serve, place a metal ring mould in the centre of each plate and add an even layer of duxelle, smoothing out the surface with a spoon. Add a layer of the artichoke purée, remove the ring then add a layer of pickled mushrooms, around five or six, to cover the purée

Add a few artichoke crisps before covering in the sliced button mushrooms to create a dome shape. Serve immediately

Discover more: