I just want something good to eat. I honestly don’t mind if its two or three small dishes from which to pick and choose or a single plate of food. The blurred lines of how we eat are far more appealing to me than the strict “here is your main course and this is its accompaniment” way of sustaining ourselves. Relaxed food produces more relaxed dinner and I’m all for that. Formality isn’t for me.I am increasingly putting more than one dish on the table at the same time. Cauliflower cheese with a side dish of fried mushrooms and pancetta; grilled aubergines and feta with a dish of root vegetable dauphinoise; a bowl of creamed chickpeas and red pepper with a plate of cold sliced lamb. Recipes that will sit comfortably as either principal dish or for us to pick at as we please are some of the most useful I have in my kitchen. Here is a collection of the latest.Oyster mushrooms, thyme and pancettaI have used king oyster mushrooms for this, but any decent-sized, fleshy mushroom will work. The...
