Green Beans with Mushrooms and Bacon

I will admit that I have never had good success cooking fresh green beans. They usually end up looking limp and splotchy and an unfortunate color green. So when I saw this recipe, I thought I would try this method of cooking green beans. After all, if it has bacon in it then it can't be all bad. Success! I now have a way to cook green beans that actually taste and look good. Yeah!

2 lbs. fresh green beans, trimmed
8 bacon slices
3 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms (about 7 oz.)
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1/8 tsp dried crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

1. Cook beans in boiling salted water over medium-high heat 4 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain. Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process; drain and set aside.
2. Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 1/2 Tbsp drippings in skillet. Discard remaining drippings. Crumble bacon.
3. Saute mushrooms and shallots in hot drippings over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until tender. Add beans and crushed red pepper; saute 1 to 2 minutes or until heated. Stir in crumbled bacon, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1/4 tsp salt.

Yield: 8 servings

Note: I used regular white mushrooms instead of shiitake. Feel free to scale down the recipe for less servings. I made it with 1/2 lb. for 2 servings and it worked great.EP