Neil Forbes – Cafe St Honoré Griddled Portobello Mushrooms with Wild Garlic Pesto

Serves 4 Prep time 20 minutes, cooking time 10 minutes 8 large Portobello mushrooms, brushed clean and wiped with a damp cloth 250ml organic extra-virgin olive oil 50g Corra Linn hard cheese, grated 50g lightly-toasted hazelnuts or walnuts A handful of washed and dried wild garlic A few salad leaves Good salt and pepper Place a griddle pan onto the hob and get it quite hot. Season the mushrooms, cut them in half and rub with a little olive oil, then place on the griddle until browned with the bar marks of the griddle, or even cook on the BBQ if it’s on. Cook for about 10 minutes, seasoning as you go and give another trickle of oil to the pan if it needs it.

Next, make the pesto by simply adding most of the wild garlic to a liquidiser with the cheese, nuts and remaining oil with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Blitz until the ingredients are all incorporated. The longer you blend, the smoother it will be. I like it quite chunky.

To serve, spoon the pesto onto warmed plates and place the mushrooms on the centre of the pesto. Scatter a few salad leaves around the edge of the plate. Wilt the retained garlic leaves on the griddle and drape these over the mushrooms. Serve at once.