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
- Fry the lardons while you peel and slice the mushrooms if necessary. Add a pinch of Urfa pepper flakes.
- Meanwhile cut the rocket or watercress into bite-sized lengths.
- 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.
- Toast your bread.
- Cut the tomatoes in half and spread over the rocket. Snip over the sage leaves.
- Arrange over the rocket the contents of the frying pan. Distribute over the cheese shavings. Pour over the dressing.
- Drizzle the bread with olive oil and a dusting of paprika.
