Inspiration hails from all kinds of unlikely sources. This one came from a shopping mall! We found ourselves in Hamburg on a public holiday. The only place open to find anything to eat was in the central atrium of a closed and deserted mall. Expectations were low.

But this is one of the dishes we had, and it was so good that I made a kind of visual note of it.

I’ve added the Urfa pepper flakes and the sage, but aside from that this is a broadly faithful rendition.

Quick and simple to make too. For a vegetarian version, omit the lardons.

Recipe for peppery mushroom mustard salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 60-90g/2-3 oz bag rocket or watercress
• 60g/ about half a cup Parmesan or pecorino shavings
• 10 or so baby plum tomatoes – depending on size
• 1 packet of mushrooms – approximately 200g/7 oz
• 4 tbsps olive oil – ideally a peppery one; plus some ordinary olive oil for frying
• 1 tbsp good quality, resiny, sherry vinegar
• 1 tbsp grainy mustard
• 1 tbsp honey – as bitter as you can get
• 50g/2 oz lardons (optional)
• a few leaves of sage
• smoked salt
• Urfa pepper flakes – or freshly ground black pepper
• toasted ciabatta, drizzled with olive oil and dusted with Spanish sweet smoked paprika

Method

1. Fry the lardons while you peel and slice the mushrooms if necessary. Add a pinch of Urfa pepper flakes.
2. Meanwhile cut the rocket or watercress into bite-sized lengths.
3. Make the dressing by mixing the peppery olive oil, sherry vinegar, mustard, honey, and some salt and a pinch more of the Urfa pepper flakes.
4. Toast your bread.
5. Cut the tomatoes in half and spread over the rocket. Snip over the sage leaves.
6. Arrange over the rocket the contents of the frying pan. Distribute over the cheese shavings. Pour over the dressing.
7. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and a dusting of paprika.