Pan-fried mushrooms with bacon & spinach

Quick, easy and so flavourful
This dish is great as a light meal or a brunch for the weekend. The bacon, veggies and balsamic combine so well and can be enjoyed on slices of warm toast, as is or even on creamy, soft polenta. It’s also delicious served in a bowl with pan-fried or poached eggs and slices of avocado. Or see the tips below for more ideas.
It should be hot
Mushrooms must fry quickly, to prevent their liquid from seeping out into the pan, causing them to stew or boil instead of fry. Have you ever heard mushrooms squeak when you fry them in a hot pan? When they make this sound, it means that the pan is just hot enough for the perfect pan-fried mushrooms.
Recipe from Make five/Maak vyf
Serves 4 – 6
30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
250 g bacon, cut into thick strips and excess fat removed
250 g brown mushrooms, quartered
200 g cherry tomatoes
30 ml (2 tbsp) balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
100 g baby spinach leaves
1. Heat a thin layer of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry bacon until golden brown and crispy. Spoon out and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and sauté mushrooms until golden brown (this is when they need to squeak). Add tomatoes and sauté until heated through and the skins begin to burst. Reduce the heat.
3. Add balsamic vinegar and stir in the bacon. Simmer until heated through. If the pan becomes too hot, remove from the heat for a few minutes.
4. Season to taste. Stir in the spinach and make sure it is well coated with the pan juices. The spinach may look too much at first, but will cook down.
5. As soon as the spinach starts to wilt, remove from the heat. Don’t let the spinach overcook.
6. Serve immediately with bread or toast and a little extra olive oil.
1. For a more filling meal, serve with fried or poached eggs or cooked lentils.
2. Stir the veggies and bacon into pasta for a light supper.
3. For a vegetarian meal, omit the bacon and keep the mushrooms whole. Serve the cooked mushrooms and other veggies on a burger bun and use the uncooked spinach as the lettuce.
Thank you