The Palmerston Lunch Box: Mushrooms on toast with spinach and tarragon

Chef Laoise Casey creates cheap, easy-to-cook lunch boxes inspired by things she has eaten in some of London's best restaurants #Palmerstonlunchbox  ​
Laoise Casey
Laoise Casey9 February 2016

Right. It’s time to be honest. As I write this, I’m brushing away the crumbs from the toasted cheese I had for lunch, possibly breakfast…I can’t really remember, all those toasties just blur into one.

My name’s Laoise and I cook for a living and I’m addicted to toasted sandwiches. When I first started cooking professionally, I had a bizarre notion that I’d spend my days off creating fine master pieces, boning and rolling swans, dressing trout, making caviar spheres. Y’know, that kind of thing. Except then a funny thing happened. All that I craved was simple food - like toasted cheese. Anything, on toast. Something that could be made so quickly I could do it when I got in from work, leaning on the kitchen counter top while checking my phone, getting into my pjs, while simultaneously washing my hair and pretending to iron my apron. I’ve since got used to snacking at 1am (dinner time for some) and I’ve learnt to forgive myself for not cooking grandly when I’m off.

The solution to this, is perhaps to eat out and let others take care of that part. One of my recent favourite places is The Palmerston in East Dulwich. Conveniently located just around the corner from where I live. A gastro pub, although it deserves much more than that title, on Lordship Lane, it’s my new go-to-place for long lunches. Cooked, by someone else, just makes it all that bit better.

Jamie Younger is the Owner Executive Chef and has created a menu with delights such as confit rabbit tortellini, salt baked beetroot, foie gras parfait and 32 day aged Longhorn pastrami. For our The Palmerston inspired lunch box we’re having mushrooms on toast. A selection of wild mushrooms (King oyster, chanterelles and the humble chestnut mushroom), quickly fried in vegetable oil, basted in butter and finished with tarragon. A simple dish that makes it ok to eat everything on toast for a regular diet. I’ll be enjoying this some night after service, and I hope you do too.

Ingredients

Selection of mixed mushrooms, I like chestnut, king oyster and chanterelles

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tbsp. butter

Small handful tarragon

2 large handfuls baby spinach

1 tbsp. sour cream

2 slices ciabatta

Sea salt, cracked black pepper to season

Cost to make per portion: £3.90

Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes

Latest London lunch boxes

1/29

How to make it:

Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth to remove any dirt. Slice into even pieces. Heat a frying pan on a high heat, add the vegetable oil and when very hot add the mushrooms. Start with the biggest ones, e.g. the king oyster, fry on each side for 1 – 2 minutes. This should only take 1 – 2 minutes if your pan is hot enough. Add the smaller mushrooms and cook for another minute. When the mushrooms are nearly cooked through add the butter and baste them until golden brown and tender. Add salt towards the end of cooking to ensure that you don’t draw out all the moisture from the mushrooms. When the mushrooms are nearly cooked add the tarragon. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and add the spinach and the sour cream. Cook until the spinach is just wilted. Meanwhile, toast the ciabatta. Spoon the spinach onto the ciabatta with the mushrooms on top. Finish with a generous sprinkling of cracked black pepper.

Laoise Casey is a chef de partie at Paradise Garage in Bethnal Green and the author of cuisinegenie.ie. Follow her on Twitter @cuisine_genie and Instagram @laoisecooks.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in