Talk About a Great Main Course Salad Meal!
Lots of bacon. That’s what happened here. I started out by cooking 10 slices of bacon, but I wasn’t sure I’d use all of it. Really? Who was I kidding? It ended up being the perfect amount of bacon. No big surprise there.
I haven’t made stuffed portobello mushrooms in a very long time. I really like them, but I don’t often think of making them. Well, I got in the mood and this is what I did after cooking the bacon. I sautéed the mushroom stems with onions and garlic in olive oil and stirred in the crumbled bacon and chopped sun dried tomatoes. Classic pairings for a good reason. They simply taste great together.
After the whole sun dried tomato craze that we lived through for at least a decade or more, it’s nice to use them in ways that are intentional and actually make sense. They add a lovely amount of brightness to these otherwise deep flavors.
I scraped out the gills of the portobellos, rubbed them with a little olive oil and baked the unfilled mushroom caps for 10 minutes. I then filled them with the bacon mixture, mounded Gruyère cheese on top and popped them back in the oven for another 10 minutes until the cheese had melted.
While they were in the oven I made a quick salad dressing of Dijon mustard, sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt, plenty of black pepper, a pinch of sugar, and tossed it with baby arugula. I thought the bitterness of arugula would be a nice pairing with the powerful flavors in the mushrooms. You could use any greens you happen to fancy, but I think the bitterness plays very well with all the other flavors.
After spooning the greens on dinner plates, I placed a hot mushroom on each plate, and sprinkled crispy fried shallots * on top of each one, along with a few fresh thyme leaves. I keep a jar of prepared fried shallots * on hand at all times. I buy them at my local Southeast Asian markets or online. Yes, you can make them yourself, but I love the ease of having them waiting and ready whenever I feel the urge. They add so much to the mushrooms in both flavor and texture. That bit of crunch and sweetness is wonderful. Just make sure you buy a brand that lists shallots and oil as the only ingredients. I once made the mistake of buying a brand that had dusted the shallots in flour before they were fried and was very disappointed. They weren’t at all the right texture.
And once again I served this salad with bread because that’s the way we roll here. I love bread with my salads and most always have a loaf or 2 stashed in my freezer. I know I’ll remember how much I loved this salad when I get to thinking about portobello mushrooms again. I don’t think the mushroom filling could be any better and it worked perfectly for one of my many salad meals. This one won’t be forgotten.
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Bacon-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms on Bitter Greens
4
servingsPortobello mushroom caps are stuffed with plenty of bacon, onion, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes before being heaped with gruyere cheese and placed in the oven. I served them on top of a baby arugula salad and sprinkled the tops with fried shallots. Now this is a great salad, folks!
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Ingredients
10 slices bacon
5 - 6 large portobello mushroom caps
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 medium garlic clove, grated
70 grams (1/2 cup) sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained, and roughly chopped
145 grams (5 ounces) Gruyère cheese, shredded on the large holes of a box grater
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Pinch granulated sugar
113 grams (4 oz.) baby arugula
Fresh thyme leaves, Optional
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375° with a rack in the center. Line a half sheet pan (13 x 18 inches) with parchment paper. Place the slices of bacon on the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until crisp. Drain the bacon on paper towels and set aside. Increase the heat in the oven to 400°.
- Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them. Using a small spoon scrape out the gills from the insides of the mushroom caps. Set aside. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat in a medium size skillet. Add the chopped mushroom stems and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the onions and a pinch of salt to the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 - 7 minutes, until the onions are softened and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook, while stirring, for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, stir in the sun dried tomatoes and season liberally with freshly ground black pepper. Crumble the bacon and add to the pan.
- Drizzle both sides of the mushrooms with olive oil - about 2 tablespoons. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place them stem side down on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and flip over the mushrooms. Let cool for a couple of minutes. Top the mushrooms with the bacon mixture and mound the shredded cheese on top. Bake for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, make the salad dressing. In a small bowl whisk together the mustard, sherry vinegar, 3 tablespoons olive oil, a big pinch of salt, plenty of black pepper, and a pinch of sugar. In a large bowl, lightly toss the arugula with the dressing. Spoon the salad on individual dinner plates and place a stuffed mushroom on each plate. Sprinkle each mushroom with fried shallots and a few fresh thyme leaves. Serve with bread and Enjoy!
2 Responses
Excellent recipe! I love arugula lettuce so this recipe caught my eye. My husband doesn’t like sun dried tomatoes so I substituted sautéed red bell peppers. We will be making this again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Lisa! And yes, your substitute of red bell peppers was a good move. I’m sure they were great in it!! Thanks so much for letting me know.