Recipe Mushroom & potato souvlaki

[Morning Glory]

Mushrooms love to be marinated. They soak up flavour beautifully. Perhaps surprisingly, orange works well with mushrooms. I tried this recipe using lemon juice but found the result a little too sharp. Orange juice has a gentler more mellow flavour and a pleasing sweetness. I used charred sliced lemons to garnish and squeeze over as a contrast. If you like crunchy peppers and onion then you don’t need to pre-cook them, but its easy enough, using the microwave. Serve with flatbread and tzatziki.

Ingredients (makes 6 skewers)
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
Juice of half a large orange (approx. 3 tbsps)
1 tsp dried oregano or thyme
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp hot paprika
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
12 medium sized white mushrooms
12 small waxy potatoes (cooked whole)
1 medium onion
1 red pepper, cut into 1inch pieces
Slices of lemon and torn mint leaves, to garnish

Method

1. Place the sesame oil, orange juice, oregano, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
2. Whisk until combined and add the cooked potatoes and whole mushrooms, turning well to coat.
3. Marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
4. Leaving the skin intact, cut the onion in half from root to tip. Then cut each half again from root to tip.
5. Cut each onion quarter across the diameter into 8 wedges.
6. Place the onion wedges and pieces of red pepper in a microwave safe bowl with an 1 iinch of water. Cover and microwave for 5 minutes.
7. Drain and allow to cool and carefully remove the onion skin.
8. Thread the mushrooms, potatoes, onion and pepper onto skewers, alternating the ingredients.
9. Heat grill (broiler) to high. Place the skewer on the grill pan and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, turning once.
10. Serve with slices of lemon and torn mint scattered over.