Tapas-Style Garlic Mushrooms

📝 Ingredients

• 500 g small button mushrooms
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• ½ lemon (for the juice)
• 3 tbsp water
• 15 g fresh parsley
• ½ baguette (about 125 g)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large frying pan
• Baking tray
• Kitchen knife
• Chopping board
• Citrus juicer
• Small earthenware dish or small serving dish

📖 Steps

1. Clean the mushrooms without soaking them: rub the caps with damp kitchen paper and trim the earthy ends of the stalks. Leave them whole if small and halve any larger than 4 cm, so they cook evenly.
2. Peel the garlic and slice it thinly. Pick the parsley leaves and chop finely. Squeeze the half lemon and set the juice aside. Cut the half baguette into slices about 1 cm thick, slightly on the diagonal.
3. Turn on the oven grill. Arrange the baguette slices on the baking tray and toast them for 2 to 3 min at the top of the oven, until golden and crisp at the edges. Keep an eye on them: they burn quickly. Set aside in a tea towel.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat until it shimmers. Add the mushrooms in a single layer (in two batches if the pan is small) and leave them to sear for 3 min without stirring, so they brown instead of stewing.
5. Stir, then continue cooking for 4 to 5 min over a high heat, shaking the pan, until the mushrooms are nicely browned and their liquid has evaporated. Only add salt at this point, otherwise they release too much water.
6. Reduce to a medium heat, add the garlic and stir for 1 min: it should turn pale golden without browning, otherwise it becomes bitter. Sprinkle in the paprika, stir for 10 seconds so it doesn't burn, then pour in the lemon juice and water and scrape the bottom for 1 min to lift the caramelised bits.
7. Off the heat, sprinkle with parsley, season with pepper and stir. Tip into a warm earthenware dish or small serving dish with the cooking juices and serve immediately with the toasted baguette slices, perfect for mopping up.