Sautéed Bacon, Mushrooms, and Lentils from Leite’s Culinaria

Sautéed Bacon, Mushrooms, and Lentils from Leite’s Culinaria

This is a wonderfully delicious recipe that I cannot rave about enough.  I did make a few substitutions because I did not make a special trip to the store and just used what I had on hand.  

Substitutions:  used salted butter instead of unsalted butter, used a can of mushroom pieces and stems and soaked, dried Shiitake mushrooms instead of cremini or oyster mushrooms, used 1 T. dried Parsley instead of 3 T. fresh Parsley, used 1 t. bottled lime juice instead of fresh lemon juice.  I will add more lime juice next time as it does add a wonderful flavor.  This was absolutely wonderful - even the leftovers were great.  I used the bacon grease instead of the olive oil to enhance the flavor and highly recommend the Shiitake mushrooms as they gave it a nice depth of flavor.  
Active time: 20 minutes Total time: 1 hour

Sautéed Bacon Mushrooms, and Lentils Recipe

Ingredients:

▪                1 1/4 cups small brown or green lentils, rinsed

▪                1 quart (4 cups) cold water or chicken stock or broth

▪                3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

▪                1 medium onion, finely chopped

▪                1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

▪                2 tablespoons unsalted butter

▪                Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

▪                4 ounces small cremini mushrooms, halved or quartered if large

▪                4 ounces oyster or other mushrooms, cut into pieces

▪                3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish

▪                1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste

▪                6 to 12 slices bacon, preferably thick-cut

Directions

1. Place the lentils in a large saucepan, cover with the water or stock, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently until tender, at least 35 minutes or so. (The exact timing will depend on the type and age of the lentils.) Drain well.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the onion and sauté just until softened and pale golden, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the butter, the remaining oil, and the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lentils, the 3 tablespoons of chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and heat, stirring, just until warmed through. Remove and discard the garlic. (I just left the garlic in - we love garlic.)  Taste and season the lentils accordingly with more lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

3. Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, fry the bacon until crisp.

4. Sprinkle the lentils with the parsley (if you use the fresh parsley) and bacon, left whole or crumbled into pieces, the more the better

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