While chicken is considered the classic yakitori, veggies grilled on skewers are also enormously popular in Japan, for good reason: Grilled vegetables are easy to prepare, fast to cook, and taste delicious. Case in point, shiitake, which firms up as it grills, and its incredible flavor becomes more concentrated.
Ingredients
- 24 shiitake mushrooms (about ¾ pound), stemmed
- ½ cup fresh lime or lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
How to Make It
- Cut the mushrooms in half on an angle. Use the double-skewer method to truss the mushrooms (4 pieces per double-skewer) to cover about 4 inches of skewer. For aesthetic reasons, make sure all the shiitake pieces are lined up in the same direction (for example, the sliced side toward the back). Set aside.
- Mix together the lime juice, soy sauce, and olive oil in a bowl to make the marinade. Pour the marinade onto a baking dish or rimmed sheet pan. Lay the skewers in the marinade and flip them 4 times to generously coat each side of the mushrooms.
- Choose your yakitori grilling method; preheat a grill to medium-hot. Grill for about 2 minutes, turning once, until the shiitake become juicy and lightly browned. Be careful not to burn the mushrooms. Serve immediately.
- VARIATION Try this method with shimeji, maitake, oyster, or crimini mushrooms.
