Love For Food: Mushroom with Parma Ham

Cooking midnight mushrooms: a state I love being in. But literally speaking I do genuinely love the real thing as well. Endlessly versatile, mushrooms comes in many sizes, hues, textures and flavours. It's something like a sponge-add it to whatever you like and it soaks up the flavours. I have never known anything savoury that doesn't go with it... besides, what mushrooms lends to a dish is it's wholesome nutrients and earthy tones (both in texture and flavour).

For this dish out here, I have kept it to basics. Just going for a roast of mushroom with some firm tomatoes and adding a bit of Parma ham at the end. Goes well with just about anything: I served mine with some buttery garlic bread.

Mushroom with Parma Ham

Ingredients

Closed cup mushroom 300 gms

Parma ham 8 strips

Firm raw tomatoes, medium/small 8

Basil (dried) 1 tbsp

Olive oil 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Dried red chilli flakes ¼ tsp

Balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp

Garlic, minced 1 ½ tbsp

Method

Clean and pat dry the mushrooms.

In a mixing bowl, tip in the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil (dried), minced garlic, salt and chilli flakes. Mix well to amalgamate the ingredients.

Tip in the mushrooms and the tomatoes into a large bowl and drizzle the the marinade you just prepared. Give it all a nice mix.

Preheat oven to 200 degree C.

Transfer the mushroom (stem side up) and the tomatoes to a large roasting dish. Do not over crowd. Ensure everything fits in a layer. Roast for 10 minutes.

Tear the Parma ham into bits or strips. Scatter them on to the mushrooms; allowing a piece for each mushroom. Roast for another 10 minutes.

Serve immediately. I am serving mine with some bread to mop everything up J