Mixed mushrooms with cinnamon and lemon

This is my contribution to this week Weekend Herb Blogging event which is being hosted by Marija from the blog Palachinka. To the blogsphere novices, this event was created by the lovely Kalyn from the lovely blog Kalyn's Kitchen which is packed with great recipe and posts. WHB is now 2 years old and it is a very successful event.

This week I have opted for a mushroom salad. As last week's, this recipe was taken from the Ottolenghi the cookbook. It is one of my favourite books at the moment.

I read that mushrooms contain vitamins A, B, C 7 D. There is a cancer research facility that even suggested that they may prevent cancer.

When it comes to preparing them, remember that they should not be washed. Instead, they should be brushed to remove the dirt on them. The only mushroom that should be washed before cooking is the morel variety.

Every one has a favourite mushroom. I am personally very addicted to shitake. Unfortunatelly I could not get hold of any for this dish. I used button, oysters, enoki and abalone. You can pick your own selection. A lovely thing is to have a nice bread to eat with this salad- use it to mop up the juices

Ingredients for 6-8 people – adapt the quantities depending on how many you will feed:

400g button mushrooms

400g chestnut mushrooms

300g shitake mushrooms

400g oyster mushrooms

200g enoki mushrooms

160ml olive oil

30g chopped thyme

10 garlic cloves, chopped (I crushed mine)

100g flat leaf parsley, chopped

6 cinnamon sticks

25g coarse sea salt

1 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper

60ml lemon juice

Preparation:

1. Get your mushrooms ready – clean them without adding water, just using a brush;
2. put a large non-stick frying pan over medium-heat and add the olive oil to it so that it can heat slightly. Then sprinkle the thyme, the garlic, the parsley and cinnamon stalks. Add the button mushrooms and let them cook for about 5 mins without disturbing them. Then give the pan a good shake and add the oyster mushrooms, season with salt and pepper. Stir it a bit and then let it cook for about 3 minutes. Add the enoki mushrooms and then turn the heat off. Add the lemon juice, give it a good shake. Serve still warm with slices of brown bread.