An incredible smoked haddock paste for toast, crackers or crudités, and a moreish and indulgent multi-mushroom-topped pastry

Two key elements at the heart of Portuguese eating culture are couvert and pastry. A couvert, comprising bread, butter, pickled or garlic carrots, cheese and fish paté (often sardine), comes as standard at every Portuguese restaurant and family dinner table alike, as it does at our restaurant Luso, where our fish paste is an ode to this way of dining. The mushroom tart, meanwhile, celebrates the Portuguese love of pastry and is a take on a traditional savoury tart. While such tarts are unlikely to feature solely mushrooms (they’re much more likely to be mixed vegetable tarts), we like to focus on the incredible varietals of this single ingredient.