Have you experienced a mushroom explosion in your backyard recently? It’s as if a village of Smurfs decided to set up camp on our lawn, at the base of the old fig tree and beside the lettuce, seemingly overnight. It’s a pity identifying them is next to impossible because the white ones in the lawn look quite delicious. Having them around has me thinking my favourite way to eat mushrooms; large flat field mushrooms stuffed with lemon, chilli and oregano, flavoured ricotta and baked in the oven.

There’s quite a diverse range of mushrooms available at the farmer’s market and at supermarkets these days. I’ll have to see to it that I start marking up some more mushroom recipes beyond the flatties. Here are some I’ve bookmarked:

Autumn vegetables, slippery Jacks, saffron milk caps and melted Brie from III Bean
Chicken with chanterelles and baby carrots from Eat This
Beef & mushroom pie from Trotski & Ash
Rustic mushroom toasts from What Katie Ate
9 things you probably didn’t know about mushrooms + roast mushroom salad from Stone Soup

Totally unrelated to mushrooms, but how great is the shopping trolley?

Baked Mushrooms with Ricotta
Serves 4

200g ricotta cheese
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for sprinkling
4 large flat field mushrooms, brushed clean
Extra virgin olive oil
baby rocket leaves

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Remove the stalks from mushrooms and dice them up finely to add to the ricotta later. Toss the mushroom caps in a little oil, salt and pepper. Lay them upside down on a roasting tray. Mix the diced mushrooms stalks, lemon zest, dried chilli, oregano leaves and Parmesan with the ricotta in a bowl until well combined. Spoon in the filling over each cap, sprinkle a little extra Parmesan over the top and bake in the oven to cook for about 15 minutes, or until golden on top and bubbling. Serve immediately, topped with dressed rocket leaves.