Warm wild mushroom and Italian squash salad

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.

2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Lay the bacon rashers on top and cover with a second layer of greaseproof paper. Sit another baking tray on top of this and cook in the oven for 10 minutes, or until crisp.

3. Boil or steam the potatoes in their skins. Drain, cool and slice into rounds half a centimetre thick. Fry the slices in a little olive oil until golden. Set aside.

4. Dip the shallot rings first into a bowl of flour, then into a bowl of milk and finally back into the flour. Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer or deep pan to 190C. Deep-fry the shallot rings until a dark golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

5. Gently fry the squash in olive oil until tender and well coloured - sprinkle over the brown sugar to help it caramelise. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

6. Heat a little more olive oil in a frying pan and add the diced shallot. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened but not browned. Stir in the garlic butter and season well. Toss with the squash.

7. To serve, put 3 or 4 slices of the potatoes on the plate. On top of that spoon the mushroom squash mixture.

8. For the dressing: mix the olive oil and sherry vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

9. Dress the curly endive with the vinaigrette and set a nice mound of it on top of the mushrooms and potatoes. Put some of the shallot rings and a rasher of bacon on top. Drizzle with the juices from the mushroom pan. Decorate with the halved quail eggs.