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Grilled maitake mushroom tart, cep cream, wild garlic and a beer and yeast sauce

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Merlin Labron-Johnson takes us for a walk in the woods with his vegetarian starter. Grilled maitake mushrooms, a wild garlic purée and a cep cream are placed atop a wafer-thin Parmesan and cep pastry disc. The dish is elegantly finished with a stout and yeast sauce that is foamed at the last minute for a light, aerated texture.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

PASTRY

WILD GARLIC PURÉE

MUSHROOMS

CEP CREAM

BEER AND YEAST SAUCE

Equipment

  • charcoal or electric grill
  • 3cm diameter cutter

Method

1

For the pastry, combine the butter, flour, Parmesan and cep powder in a stand mixer fitted with a beater attachment. Process on a medium speed until it starts to resemble coarse breadcrumbs then add the egg and bring it together into a ball. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour

2

For the wild garlic purée, place the whole spring onions in a frying pan (or on a hot plancha) with the vegetable oil and cook until fully cooked and soft – this will take about 25 minutes

3

Meanwhile, blanch the spinach and wild garlic in a pan of boiling water for 1 minute. Refresh in iced-water. Once cool, squeeze out the excess liquid and place in a high-powered blender

4

Add the spring onions to the blender and blend until you have a smooth green purée. Season with salt, then set aside at room temperature

5

Preheat a charcoal or electric grill to medium-high. To cook the maitake mushrooms, grill them over the medium-high heat, whilst brushing with the melted butter to stop them from becoming too dry. If you don’t have a grill, use a hot frying pan and sauté them until golden and cooked but still juicy. Once cooked and cool enough to handle, use your fingers to separate the mushrooms into bite-sized chunks. Cool and set aside in the fridge until needed

6

For the cep cream, sweat the shallot in the butter in a small saucepan until soft but not coloured. Add the cep mushrooms and cook for a further 10 minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated. Add the beer vinegar, then transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt, close cover by covering the surface with cling film to stop it forming a skin and store in the fridge until needed

7

For the beer and yeast sauce, first make a yeast butter. Place the butter and yeast in a saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the yeast starts to caramelise and the butter starts to lightly brown. Remove from the heat and leave to cool

8

Preheat the oven to 200°C

9

Once the pastry dough has rested, use a rolling pin to roll out the pastry dough into a rectangle the thickness of a 1p coin (1.5mm). Bake the sheet of pastry for 3 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and, whilst still hot, use a 3cm ring cutter to stamp out 6 discs of pastry whilst being careful not to break them. Return the discs to the oven for a further 3-4 minutes until they are golden and crispy. Set aside to cool on a wire rack then store at room temperature in an airtight container

10

To finish the sauce, warm the stout in a small saucepan, add the yeast butter and season with the lemon zest, juice and salt. Make sure it is hot then blend using a handheld blender to aerate it

11

Reheat the mushrooms over the grill until they are hot. Reheat the cep cream

12

Place a spoonful of the wild garlic purée on the bottom of each plate and top with a pastry disc. Place a spoonful of the warm cep cream on each tart base. Top with the mushrooms and add a few wild garlic leaves and flowers and some pickled wild garlic. Finish with a spoonful of the hot foamy sauce (re-aerate it if you need to) and serve immediately

First published in 2026
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After six years working in Michelin-starred restaurants in Switzerland, France and Belgium, Merlin Labron-Johnson returned to the UK to open Portland. Nine months later, he was awarded a Michelin star at just twenty-four years old. Now he can be found in Bruton, Somerset, with his restaurant Osip, which was awarded a Michelin green star in 2023.

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