Name: Garlic Mushroom Toast
Prep time: 8 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500 g mixed mushrooms — chestnut, shiitake, oyster — torn or thickly sliced; 3 tbsp olive oil; 5 garlic cloves, finely sliced; 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves; 1 tbsp light soy sauce; 1 tbsp lemon juice; ¾ tsp fine sea salt; ¾ tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley; 4 thick slices sourdough; 1 tbsp olive oil, extra; 1 garlic clove, halved; ¼ tsp flaky sea salt

Garlic Mushroom Toast

Mushrooms cooked hard in a dry pan until they squeak and brown before any fat goes in, then finished with garlic, thyme and lemon on charred sourdough. Twenty minutes.

20 min total Serves 2 servings Easy

Mushrooms are about ninety per cent water and they release most of it in the pan. Add fat at the start and they poach in their own liquid and turn grey; start them in a dry, hot pan and that water boils off, the pan re-dries, and only then do they brown. The oil goes in after that, which is also when the garlic can be added without burning during the long, wet first stage. Deglazing with a splash of soy or vinegar lifts the fond that has stuck to the pan.

Garlic Mushroom Toast, in preparation
Photograph credit: Toastie with Garlic Mushrooms, Home-made Pesto, Roasted Peppers - Hoogly Tea Lodge… by Andy Li · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

How to Make Garlic Mushroom Toast

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Heat a large frying pan over high heat with nothing in it. Add the mushrooms in a single layer, dry.
Cook 5 to 6 minutes without stirring much. They will release a pool of liquid, then the pan will boil dry and they will begin to squeak and colour. Wait for that.
Add the 3 tablespoons of oil and cook 3 minutes more, tossing, until deep golden at the edges.
Add the garlic and thyme and cook 45 seconds, until fragrant but not coloured.
Pour in the soy sauce and lemon juice — it will hiss and lift the browned bits off the base. Season with the salt and pepper and take off the heat.
Brush the sourdough with the extra oil and toast in a hot dry pan or under a grill until well charred.
Rub the hot toast with the cut garlic clove.
Pile the mushrooms on, scatter with parsley and flaky salt, and eat at once.

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Tips That Matter

Dry pan first. Oil at the start is the single reason home-cooked mushrooms go grey and rubbery.
Do not crowd the pan. Two batches beat one steamed one.
Tear rather than slice the oyster mushrooms; the ragged edges crisp.

Swaps and Variations

An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Serve It With

A poached egg on top · A glass of red · A green salad

Keeping and Reheating

The mushrooms keep 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot pan. Toast to order.