Across our Local and Wild restaurants, we work hard to support seasonal food and sustainable farming. One Planet Plate is a restaurant campaign to put sustainability on the menu, raising awareness of the environmental impact of the production and consumption of food. The initiative from Food Made Good invites diners and chefs worldwide to make every meal served as sustainable as possible.
We’re calling on you to join the collective movement and vote with your fork. We've joined chefs across the UK and added a dish to our menus as well as contributed one of our favourite easy recipes for Mushroom Marmite, a deliciously moreish vegetarian English spread that has a low impact on the planet and perfect for serving at your own dinner parties - we find it goes beautifully with Oatmeal Farls. You can enjoy our One Planet Plate of Mushroom Marmite Éclairs at all of our restaurants.
Mushroom Marmite on Oatmeal Farls
The classic line about Marmite is that you either love it or hate it, but not our mushroom-flavoured version. This is really a sort of rich mushroom, truffle mayonnaise but with the dark black colour and consistency of Marmite. It works beautifully as an intense flavoured spread on these Scottish oatmeal cakes.
400g fresh black field mushrooms
6 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
200ml sunflower oil
20ml truffle oil
Approx. 1 tablespoon water
A few slivers of cornichon, to garnish
For the oatmeal farls
250g oatmeal, plus extra for dusting
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
30g lard or dripping, melted
2 tablespoons of hot water
(You will also need an 8cm cookie cutter)
First you need to dry the mushrooms. We do this by threading them onto a string and hanging them high above my cooker for at least a week. Alternatively, you can arrange them on a baking tray and leave them to dry over a radiator or in an airing cupboard. Either way, dry your mushrooms in a warm place for at least a week or until they are fragile and crispy. We’ve been asked if you can’t just pop them in a low oven, but we promise they won’t be the same.
Transfer the dried mushrooms to a food processor and blitz to a fine powder. Keeping the motor running, add the egg yolks, sugar, salt and vinegar through the tube feeder. Then slowly add the sunflower and truffle oil, a little at a time, allowing the mixture to thicken. Check the consistency of a thick, sticky spread. Spoon the mushroom marmite into an airtight container and store in the fridge until needed.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
To make the farls, mix together the oatmeal, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour in the melted lard or dripping and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Finally, stir in the water and mix to a stiff dough.
Dust your work surface with oatmeal, turn out the dough and knead gently until it comes together in a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of 5mm and stamp out 6 discs using an 8cms cookie cutter. Arrange on the prepared baking tray and bake for 25 minutes.
As soon as the oatcakes come out of the oven, cut them into quarters (it is the shape that makes them farls) and transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
To serve, spread a generous layer of the mushroom marmite onto each farl and top with a little sliver of cornichon.
(Any leftover marmite can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks)
Find out more about the One Planet Plate campaign here: https://www.oneplanetplate.org/
One Planet Plate is a campaign by Food Made Good for the Sustainable Restaurant Association: https://thesra.org/