This is a soul-soothing dish for the cooler months and the perfect meat-free main. Be sure to buy an assortment of mushrooms in various colours, sizes and shapes.

Polenta, with its slightly coarse texture, acts as the perfect vehicle for the earthy mushrooms and is best served as soon as it’s made.

Elevate the flavour

This recipe calls for regular polenta, rather than the quick-cook or instant variety. While cooking polenta in water is standard practice, I elevate my polenta by cooking it in milk to add some depth, and stir in a good amount of parmesan and mascarpone to finish.

Avoid lumpy polenta

Nobody likes a lumpy polenta, but it’s easy to avoid it. Pour polenta into hot liquid gradually, not all at once, and whisk constantly as you do it. The constant whisking will evenly disperse the polenta in the liquid, so it won’t have a chance to clump together.

Never wash mushrooms

Mushrooms, especially wild mushrooms, are like little sponges. They’ll soak up any moisture. If you wash them, they’ll get waterlogged and won’t caramelise properly. Instead, clean them with a damp paper towel or brush them off with a pastry brush.

Not all mushrooms are the same

You don’t always have to slice mushrooms. Button or Swiss brown mushrooms are best quartered. I like to leave smaller shiitakes and shimejis whole, and tear maitake and oyster mushrooms by hand.

Don’t overcrowd the pan

Mushrooms need room in the pan for their juices to evaporate. If you pack them in, they’ll just steam and never caramelise. If you have to cook a large amount of mushrooms, it’s better to cook in multiple pans or in batches.