Grilled mushrooms with garlic hummus

Method

Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas 6. Drizzle the garlic heads with a teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in foil and roast for 40 minutes, until the cloves are soft and golden brown. 

Discard the foil and, when cool enough to handle, squeeze out the squidgy cloves and discard the papery skin.

While the garlic is roasting, prepare the mushrooms. 

Put the garlic, oil, lemon zest and juice, thyme and maple syrup into a large bowl with a teaspoon of flaked salt and a generous grind of black pepper. 

Heat a large griddle pan on a high heat, then lay in the mushrooms, well spread out (depending on the size of your grill, you may need to cook them in batches), and grill, turning often, for about eight minutes, until the mushrooms have dark char-marks on all sides. 

If you have a BBQ, then you can cook on the rack for 10-15mins depending on the heat of your grill.

Add the griddled mushrooms to the bowl with the oil mixture and stir to combine.

For the hummus, put the chickpeas and 3-4 tbsp of aquafaba into the food processor. Blitz for a minute to a smooth paste. Then add 1 tbsp olive oil and the lemon juice. Blitz again. Add the soft garlic paste and blitz again

You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl. Add salt to taste.

Spread the chickpea hummus  in the base of a shallow bowl, and make a large well in the centre with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle over the tin of drained chickpeas 

Stir the dill and parsley into the mushrooms, then spoon into the well, with all the oil and aromatics.

Serve with crackers or toasted pita bread. 

This recipe is inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi