Karl’s California Fusion Grilled Shiitaki Mushrooms

I had originally planned to make this as a mushroom and green bean dish. I decided to make it as two dishes to please Eilene, who does not like mushrooms. Since I was already grilling my ghost pepper chicken, grilled shiitaki mushrooms was an easy pick.

Karl’s California Fusion Grilled Shiitaki Mushrooms

A few weeks ago, I found a book Izakaya: Japanese Bar food. One of the recipes was for grilled mushrooms. That recipe produced a really tasty dish and I have started to use that technique for other dishes. The true trick to the recipe is how long you marinate the mushrooms before grilling them. In the three hour marinating time, the mushrooms become completely saturated with whatever sauce you are using.

After Dinner Note: As I was writing up this recipe, Jan stopped by to say that this was her favorite dish of that meal.

Karl’s California Fusion Grilled Shiitaki Mushrooms

Ingredients

½ lb. shiitaki mushrooms

2 Tbs. lime juice
1 Tbs. corn oil
2 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. lime zest
¼ tsp. Kosher salt

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, loose packed
2  green onions, sliced finely

Directions

Note: Start marinating your mushrooms at least three hours before grilling.

1. Stemmed and cut the mushrooms in half.

2. Put the lime juice, oil, sugar, zest, and salt into a seal-able quart plastic bag.

Tip: Mix the sauce until the sugar has completely dissolved.

3. Put the mushrooms in the bag.

4. Press most of the air out of the bag and seal it.

Note: Do not crush the mushrooms.

5. Shake the bag to distribute the sauce over the shiitaki.

6. Place the bag in the refrigerator and let it marinate for three hours.

Tip: Flip the bag several times to redistribute the sauce.

7. Place 3-4 half mushrooms on each skewer.

8. Grill the shiitaki directly over the heat, until they are starting to brown around the edges, 4-5 minutes per side.

9. Remove the mushrooms from the skewers and toss with the cilantro and green onion.

10. Transfer to a shallow serving bowl.