For a food with decidedly unglamorous beginnings, growing in dank, dark conditions, mushrooms are the soul of so many dishes. These versatile fungi soak up flavour, add heft and heart to simple meals and are the perfect complement to comfort foods like toasties, pasta and pies. While they’re the basis of many plant-based diets, they’re also an ideal foil to a range of meats and really shine when matched with cheese.
To show off the many ways you can spin a mushroom, we’ve collated nine recipes in which ‘shrooms are the star.
While a good old beef mince pie has its place (the footy, road trips, kids’ parties), sometimes we’re after something more refined. Enter Scott Pickett’s beef cheek and mushroom pie, jazzed up with green peppercorns, which will up the ante next time you’re asked to bring a plate to a party.
This pithivier, with its pretty, scored pattern on top and rustic good looks, is an even fancier take on a classic pie. It’s filled with a gooey, mushroomy ragu, an aromatic hit of truffle paste and an ever-so-slightly pungent slab of taleggio.
It’s a little spicy, it’s a little earthy – it’s Ottolenghi’s mushroom lasagne, inspired by a “mythical” meat-based pasta sauce from a restaurant in Tuscany. Like mushrooms, this dish is endlessly versatile: it’s easily made vegan, can be prepped ahead and the lasagne format can be swapped for polenta or pasta.
This open-topped pie is a riff on New Zealand’s beloved bacon and egg pie, and can be eaten hot or cold. Hāngī is a traditional Māori way of cooking food in an earth oven, imparting a rich smokiness to the pork that makes the mushrooms sing.
The earthiness of both mushrooms and truffles make them perfect bedfellows – and a crowd pleasing combo when stuffed inside a toastie with some cheese. This recipe, from Adelaide bar Proof, contains some surefire tips for crafting a top-tier toastie, regardless of whether you’re jamming it with ‘shrooms or something else.
This rich and warming ragout is the perfect dish to have on standby for when the weather turns cold. Put a batch on, and it’ll yield a ragout that is as satisfying swooshed through pasta as it is spooned on top of cheesy polenta or sopped up with crusty bread.
Fluffy homemade potato gnocchi are great no matter what you serve them with – but a mushroom crumb, fried in ghee, and a funky parmesan crisp are a great way to start. The crumb lends an umami hit, which the parmesan doubles down on and the gnocchi balances out.
Mushrooms shouldn’t just be confined to mains: they make great snacks, too. Especially when they’re marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, crumbed and fried, like Dorothy Lee from Sydney’s Longshore (ex-Hartsyard) does here. We reckon they’re exactly what you want to eat while you have a drink.
Chunky and hearty portobello mushrooms have long been a stand-in for meat in vegetarian recipes. But here, they’re no meat replacements – they’re glorious all on their own, revelling in chilli oil and adding big-time texture to the accompanying creamy butter-bean mash.
