Aishling Moore: The magic of Irish-grown mushrooms and the key to cooking them perfectly

Aishling Moore's delicious recipe for baked oysters with creamy leek and mushrooms

Baked oysters with mushroom and leek, recipe by Aishling Moore, Picture: Chani Anderson

I met Joe and Dolores Gorman of Garryhinch Mushrooms at the Euro-Toques Ireland food awards in Wicklow early this summer. They were awarded for their exceptional mushrooms and outstanding innovation in the Land category.

Other winners on the day included Aran Island Seafood, Winetavern Farm, Micil Distillery, Dunany Flour, Leitrim Hill Creamery, and Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese.

All such worthy winners and fantastic producers that contribute so much to the diversity and supreme quality of Irish food.

Joe and Dolores have been cultivating mushrooms for over 36 years on the banks of the River Barrow on the borders of Laois and Offaly.

They presently grow a wide range of exotic organic mushrooms using wood-based substrates sourced from sustainably managed forests.

Varieties such as shiitake, king oyster, yellow oyster, grey oyster, maitake, lion’s mane, nameko, and white beech are each harvested by hand.

These fungi are grown carefully under controlled conditions using advanced technology which is powered in part by solar energy.

I love serving mushrooms with seafood. At Goldie, we often pickle Garryhinch shiitakes and roast some of their grey oyster variety. We tear the oyster mushrooms, lightly coat them in oil, and cook them very quickly in a 225°C oven.

For this weekend’s recipe, baked oysters with mushrooms and creamed leek, I have used a mix of shiitake, grey oyster, and yellow oyster mushrooms.

Nowadays, most supermarkets stock a variety of mushrooms, so you can use whatever’s available; button and chestnut will work well too once they are cooked correctly.

The key to excellent mushroom cookery is not to overcrowd the pan, which will create steam you want the mushrooms to caramelise, not boil!

Use a wide-based pot or pan to brown the mushrooms, place them in a single layer, work in batches if needs be.

Baked oysters with creamy leek and mushrooms

For this weekend’s recipe, baked oysters with mushrooms and creamed leek, I have used a mix of shiitake, grey oyster and yellow oyster mushrooms.

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 1 dozen oysters

• 2 tbsp golden rapeseed oil

• 250g mushrooms finely sliced

• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

• 30g unsalted butter

• 1 small leek, finely sliced

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

• 100ml white wine

• 125ml cream

• 100g panko breadcrumbs

• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil

Method

1. Place a large frying pan on high heat. Warm the rapeseed oil and add the mushrooms, season with salt and cracked black pepper. Cook until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside whilst cooking the leeks.

2. Drop the temperature of the pan to medium and add the butter, leeks and garlic. Cook until softened.

3. Turn the heat back up to high and add the white wine, reduce until syrupy, then add the cream and reduce by half.

4. Remove from the heat and add the mushrooms to the mix.

5. To shuck the oysters, prepare a roasting tray with a bed of salt.

6. Fold a clean tea towel in half twice lengthways. Place the oyster in the centre of the folded towel cup-side down with the hinge of the oyster facing in the direction of your more dominant hand.

7. Place the tip of the oyster knife at the hinge of the shell applying pressure. Twist and wiggle the knife to pop the hinge. The hinge is at the pointed end of the oyster.

8. Angle the knife towards the cup side of the shell and run your knife towards the top side of the shell. Turn the knife at a 90-degree angle to separate the flat side of the shell from the cup.

9. Run the knife under the muscle adductor of the oyster to detach the oyster from the shell. Remove any shell fragments that might be present.

10. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

11. Toss the breadcrumbs with the rapeseed oil to coat in a small bowl.

12. Place a heaped teaspoon of the mushroom and creamed leek mix in each oyster and top with the breadcrumbs. Bake until golden brown. Approximately 8 minutes

Fish tales

Always shuck oysters on a flat surface.

The tea towel will help protect your less dominant hand as well as keeping the oyster in a stable position when the oyster is opened.

The bed of salt will act as a stable base for the oysters to sit on while shucking and baking in the oven.

Avoid excess force, this will shatter and chip the outside of the shell as well as potentially damage the meat inside and yourself!

Discard any oysters that are open or have cracked, compromised shells. They should smell fresh and of the seaside.

The oyster shells will be very hot when removed from the oven, so allow the oysters to sit for a couple of minutes before serving.