This recipe is from Folko Kullmann’s Grow Your Own Mushrooms, which is out now!
The shiitake’s large caps taste wonderful when baked with tomatoes and nuts. Here a sophisticated take on hollandaise sauce is served alongside.

Serves 4, 1 hour
- 8–12 large shiitake mushrooms
- salt and pepper
- 150g (5¼oz) canned tomatoes
- 2 onions
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 35g (1¼oz) shelled walnuts
- butter for frying
- Parmesan for grilling
- 200g (7oz) cold butter
- 1 shallot
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 4 tbsp white wine
- 5 black peppercorns
- 2 fresh egg yolks
Method
Trim the mushrooms and twist out the stems. Season the gills with salt and pepper. Peel the onions and garlic and chop finely. Wash the parsley, shake it dry and chop finely. Chop the walnut kernels in a food processor or chop them finely. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
Warm the butter in a saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic until golden brown and translucent, and then add the parsley, tomatoes and chopped walnuts. Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the mushroom caps on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and fill them with the onion and tomato mixture. Add a dab of butter and sprinkle a little Parmesan over the top.
Sprinkle over 3–4 tablespoons water and bake for 20–25 minutes. While the mushrooms are baking, make the sauce. Peel the shallots, chop them finely, then put them in a small saucepan with the vinegar, white wine and peppercorns, and boil for 5 minutes.
Strain the liquid through a fine-meshed sieve into a mixing bowl, then beat in the egg yolks. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and gradually add the freezing-cold butter to the sauce in small pieces, so that it gets worked in. Season with salt and pepper. Don’t allow the sauce to boil, or the egg yolks will curdle. Arrange the mushrooms on small plates and pour over the sauce to serve.
Now you have the appetite for Shiitake mushrooms, learn how to grow them on your own in next week’s blog post.