Zatar Ricotta & Oyster Mushroom Toast
This sandwich makes a wonderful healthy vegetarian lunch. It has the creaminess from the ricotta layer, the meatyness from the oyster mushrooms and the freshness from the rocket salad added on top.
Do you have a favorite kind of mushroom? Mine has been oyster mushrooms for as long as I can remember. I love love love oyster mushrooms!! If you're not a fan of mushrooms, you should give those a try because they have such a lovely almost meat-like texture and savory flavor.
I did some research and to my great amazement, I found out that oyster mushrooms were first cultivated in Germany during World War I! They're now grown around the world and related to the king oyster mushroom. Here's a great article about the health benefits of those particular mushrooms.
Mushroom and cheese is generally a super popular sandwich option for my husband and me. However, I wanted to create a lunch sandwich that was a bit more delicate in flavor and not so rich. Ricotta is generally a cheese that I enjoy eating a lot. Much more than cream cheese. I love how soft and sweet it is, yet not as creamy and rich as cream cheese. Ricotta is actually not really a cheese but a by-product from making cheeses!
Mixing the ricotta with Za'atar spice mixture creates much more depths of flavor. In case you're not familiar with Za'atar, it's both the Arabic name for wild thyme and the name of a spice mixture. The spice mixture typically contains wild thyme, toasted sesame seeds, dried sumac, salt as well as other spices. It's got a slight bitterness to it and is very herby. I really like it but you should use it in smaller doses. Here's a nice looking recipe if you want to make it at home.
This sandwich makes a wonderful healthy lunch. It has the creaminess from the ricotta layer, the meatyness from the oyster mushrooms and the freshness from the rocket salad added on top. It's basically my dream lunch sandwich! And of course really easy to make.
Will you make this sandwich for lunch soon? Or how about my Persimmon, Honey & Cream Cheese Sandwich?
This sandwich makes a wonderful healthy vegetarian lunch. It has the creaminess from the ricotta layer, the meatyness from the oyster mushrooms and the freshness from the rocket salad added on top.
- 200 grams oyster mushrooms (0.4 pounds)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon Za'atar spice mix (see notes)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 slices of sourdough bread
- bunch of rocket salad
Heat up 1 tsp of olive oil in a pan.
Clean the musrooms. If they're very big, you can cup them in half before or otherwise after frying them.
Fry half of the mushrooms with the bottom side down first. Flip after 4 minutes and cover pan with a lid. Fry for another 4 minutes. Remove them from the pan and lightly salt them.
Heat up the other tsp of olive oil and fry the other half of the mushrooms in the same way.
In a small bowl, mix together ricotta cheese, zatar spice mix and salt.
Toast the slices of sourdough bread.
Spread ricotta mix onto both slices. Top with all the mushrooms. Add some rocket salad on top. Enjoy!
Za'atar spice mixture: the spice mixture typically contains wild thyme, toasted sesame seeds, dried sumac, salt as well as other spices. It's got a slight bitterness to it and is very herby. I really like it but you should use it in smaller doses. Here's a nice looking recipe if you want to make it at home.
