Friday Fungus: Salad (and how we can get through Summer with bacon and mushrooms)

OK guys, its summer time and that means salads. I know that this is a painful experience – no stew (or dumplings), no roasties, no rice. Above all, no chips.

But offer it up (as my mum used to say). Go with the salad regime but insist on these details:

Salads must contain other ingredients than lettuce (or even those euphemisms for lettuce – “young leaves”). Proper stuff with bite – feta cheese, walnuts, marinated olives, bacon bits (and not the dried up rubbish they give you at salad bars), lumps of cold meat, mature cheddar and something else…oh yes, mushrooms.

Now a warning here – some people think you shouldn’t eat raw mushrooms. Give you a tummy ache you know! And –from the taste perspective I rather agree. If you want to eat raw mushrooms, go ahead but I think a little cooking makes all the difference.

So folks, since you want real man salads, here’s the Friday Fungus bacon and mushroom salad recipe. You’ll need:

Some mushrooms (about four normal sized ones per person, chopped)
Good green bacon (two rashers per person, chopped)
Two teaspoons of capers
Couple of shallots (chopped)
A green salad of lettuce, “young leaves”, coriander and cucumber
A dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salts and black pepper

Heat up a heavy frying pan, fry the bacon for a minute then add the mushrooms. Stir, add some black pepper and the shallots. Fry for a further minute then cover turn off the heat and leave to stand for five minutes. Make the green salad.

Add the mushrooms and bacon to the salad, mix thoroughly. Then add the dressing, toss and serve (with a nice picture of a bowl of chips).

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