Bacon?! Well… not really. When Julie and I went to the Martha Stewart Show in March, Biz and Martha cooked an amazing stew (one that I’ve already had twice and loved both times!) and to top that stew they made a mushroom “bacon” topping. I am not a huge mushroom lover, but I try and force myself because I know they are good for me, so I was a skeptic at first. Ryan and I ran to the store and bought some beautiful shiitake mushrooms (seriously they were amazing looking) and we chopped them extremely thin and baked them in olive oil just like the recipe said. It was taking forever!! They just weren’t getting crispy! But then something miraculous happened… they became crispy… We were cooking for some friends, thank goodness they got crispy, so I had to sample them to make sure I could serve them with confidence. I think I ended up eating half of them before anyone arrived. OOPS!
Well, here I go again. This time I’m making them just for Ryan and I! I’m going to top my salad with them! It’s like shiitake-mushroom-baco-bits!
Shiitake Bacon
Serves 4
5 oz. shiitake mushrooms (about 6 large)
Canola oil or any oil, I used an aerosol can of canola oil
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove the mushroom stems; slice the shiitake mushroom caps thinly, about 1/4 an inch.
Spread them evenly on to the parchment lines baking sheet, but it’s ok if they overlap a little because they shrink down. Spray, or drizzle, the mushrooms with oil, and place in to the oven for 8-9 minutes. Use tongs or a spatula to flip the mushrooms; this is hard because they are sticky and soggy so I just stirred them around the best I could and then tried to thin them back out into a single layer. Spray, or drizzle, the mushrooms again and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
Flip the mushrooms a second time, and return to the oven for another 8 minutes. Repeat this, removing any mushrooms that have crisped, until done (I ended up flipping one last time, spraying with oil ever so lightly, and cooking another 6 minutes – they crisp up more as they cool).
It’s hard to resist eating all of them!!!
