Chili-roasted Mushrooms (plus bonus recipe)

I made this as part of a tapas spread but it would be a lovely side dish or a rich and flavourful topping for salad, grilled vegetables or steaks. For the chili oil, I used a Japanese rayu with roasted garlic and chilli flakes in it that infused the oil with unbeatable flavour, but if you don't have rayu in your pantry any chili oil will work or make your own by heating oil with a variety of dried chillis and garlic then allowing it to cool. The "wild" mushrooms I used are all typical Japanese ones:maitake, shimeji and buttons; any mix you like will work.

Chili-Roasted Mushrooms
serves 4 as tapas

700 g "wild" mushrooms, sliced/separated into bite-size bits
2 T red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2-3 T olive oil
2-3 T chili oil

Toss the mushrooms, onion & garlic and olive oil. Spread the mushrooms ina thin layer on a baking pan and roast for about 10 minutes at 180C. Turn/stir the mushrooms and continue roasting for another 10 minutes. At this point they will be releasing their juices and starting to shrink in volume. Toss with chili oil and roast another 5 minutes. Remove from oven; serve warm or at room temperature.

Spiced Almonds
serves 4 as tapas

200 g almonds
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp hungarian paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 T olive oil

Mix together the spices. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan, add the almonds and stir to coat in oil. When you can smell the almonds, turn off the heat and coat with the spice mixture. Allow to cool.