(Serves four to six)

675g closed cup mushrooms (but see recipe below)
250ml fino or dry amontillado sherry
50g butter
3 shallots, peeled and quartered
Half teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of ground cumin
Pinch of Gozo sea salt
2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only, and chopped
1 orange

If available, choose a mixture of oyster cup and button mushrooms, white and/or brown. If you have any field mush-rooms, or wild mushrooms, add these too. Otherwise, fresh cup mushrooms work perfectly well.

Wipe the mushrooms, and cut off the hard end of the stalk. Put them in a bowl, and marinate in the sherry for 30 to 40 minutes. Strain the mushrooms, and use the remaining sherry for other dishes.

Heat a large shallow pan, add the mushrooms, and cook them, covered, over a high heat for five minutes. Drain off the liquid, and use in soup or stews. Add the butter and the rest of the ingredients, except for the orange.

Grate most of the zest into the mushrooms, but leave a third un-grated so that you can take off two good slices to halve, and use as garnish. Squeeze the orange juice into the mushrooms, and cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes, adding more sherry if you prefer extra liquid.

Serve in heated bowls with triangles of buttered toast and the half slices of orange. If you want to serve this dish cold, which is also very good, use olive oil instead of butter.