Mushrooms are a common ingredient in vegetable cuisine. This is partly because of their texture - well prepared mushrooms give you something to chew on - and partly because they absorb a tremendous amount of flavor. As a result, you can use them well to add a nice savory bite to your dish. One of my favorite mushrooms to do that with is the oyster mushroom. Roughly tearing them and then gently frying them gives them a texture that is sometimes reminiscent of meat. Although that is really not necessary, because just as mushrooms they are actually good enough too.

Especially in this side dish. Generally I'm not big on terms like "irresistible," but sometimes you know the moment something comes out of oven that it's good. That was certainly the case with these oyster mushrooms from oven . It is a simplified version of a recipe from Ottolenghi's Flavour, where it is used as an ingredient in tacos. In those it is certainly tasty and I would definitely use them for that, but you can use them much more versatile. As they point out in the book, it's also delicious with the chunky pumpkin puree from the same book, but I can also imagine it making a simple dish like Mexican rice a whole new experience.

Tips

• You can prepare this dish ahead of time. In that case, keep the chilioil aside and just before serving, sauté the oyster mushrooms until warm
• This dish can also be made with other mushrooms. Chestnut mushrooms or sliced portobello mushroom lend themselves well to it