I'm going to love a shiitake regardless of how it's prepared. Whether it's raw, sauteed, dried out and then reconstituted, I don't care. As long as you didn't burn it, I will eat it. There's something so comforting in the natural botanical flavor of the raw shiitake, and when you purchase the dried ones it's amazing how concentrated their umami flavor becomes.
I was happy to find out that Jonathan Tescher over at Sparta Farms is just as enthusiastic about the noble shiitake. He's started cultivating them, along with lion's mane. Lion's mane is a lesser known mushroom but I can assure you that it is delicious as well, and nothing to be intimidated by. It's the white mushroom in the middle of the picture to the left. I've never tried them raw, but they are great just sauteed up with some olive oil, garlic and thyme. I talked to Jonathan and he mentioned that some Yale students discovered a type of fungi that eats plastic! A quick trip to the market in East Atlanta not only yielded some delicious mushrooms, it also offered hope for humanity. Glad I stopped by!
Since I really prefer the shiitakes raw I decided to make a quick little salad. It took about 4 minutes to make. Here's a quick overview of what ended up in it: Spinach, julienned poblano pepper, purple basil, thin shaved shiitake and red onion, confit tomatoes, fish sauce, olive oil, rice wine vinegar and a generous helping of sesame seeds.
Confit tomatoes might sound complicated, but it's not. All you do is poke a little hole at the top of the tomato and then heat a little bit of olive oil up on the stove. Put the tomatoes in it. As soon as it gets hot cut the heat and let them sit for a little while. Once they are cool enough to handle just pop the skins right off of them. It would be nice to add some fresh thyme sprigs and garlic to this as well but I didn't think about it until I'd already eaten the salad! Oh well, there's always next time. By the way this is a great way to boost the flavor of not so delicious tomatoes. And one more tip from the kitchen, it's a really bad idea to store your tomatoes in the fridge. Once a tomato drops down below 55 degrees it gets really mealy textured! That doesn't apply to the confit tomatoes though. Now that they're cooked they should be stored in the fridge.
If you want to make your own shiitake salad make sure to stop by the East Atlanta Farmers Market on Thursdays from 4 to 8 pm. Check out www.farmeav.com for more info.
