Warm Mushroom & Arugula Salad

Warm Mushroom & Arugula Salad!

We love having big salads for dinner so I’m always on the lookout for new recipes and ideas other than the standard grilled chicken chopped up over greens.

Boy was I happy to find this one!

So many good things going on – mushrooms, prosciutto, sundried tomatoes, to name a few – but the recipe is simple and easy to put together.

Here’s what you need:

Baby Arugula, Cremini (Baby Bella) Mushrooms, Prosciutto, Pecorino Romano (or Parmesan), Butter, Olive Oil, Sherry Vinegar, & Sundried Tomatoes.

Click here for a Warm Mushroom & Arugula Salad Shopping List

I love, love, love arugula. It has a peppery bite that really kicks ordinary salad greens up a notch. If you’re unsure, or arugula isn’t your thing, this would also be perfectly good just on a bed of mixed baby greens.

I decided to build one big salad on a platter but you could also assemble this directly on the serving plates.

Spread a 5 oz. package of washed arugula on the platter and top with about 5 slices (.3 ounces) of extremely thin, good Italian Prosciutto.

To make the prosciutto a little easier to eat, I’ve cut the slices into smaller strips.

While you’re chopping, cut 1 pound of cremini mushrooms into halves or quarters, depending on size.

I pop the stems off the mushrooms…they don’t add much in the way of flavor and can be pretty tough.

Cremini mushrooms are sometimes also called Baby Bella mushrooms. They have more of a woodsy flavor than traditional white mushrooms.

Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and 1 Tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat.

When the butter is foamy, add the quartered mushrooms and sauté until tender & slightly golden, about 3-4 minutes.

I like to cook mushrooms at higher heat (the Julia Child method) so that they almost caramelize and retain their size and shape. If the heat is too low, the mushrooms release all of their liquid and become extremely limp and soggy. Don’t be afraid to crank up the heat and cook them quickly.

When the mushrooms are tender and golden, remove the pan from the heat and add 2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar & 2 more Tablespoons olive oil.

This makes the dressing for the salad.

I keep sherry vinegar on hand but if you don’t have it, white wine vinegar would be fine too. You might add just a pinch of sugar if you use white wine vinegar.

Spoon the warm mushrooms and all the pan juices onto the salad.

The hard part is to keep from eating these warm mushrooms off the platter until the rest of the salad is ready.

Top with 2 Tablespoons of sliced sundried tomatoes (I use the sundried tomatoes packed in oil and give them a quick drain on a paper towel) and about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese shards that you scrape off the block of cheese with a vegetable peeler.

Use tongs or 2 big spoons to very lightly toss the salad on the platter.

No need to get too aggressive here, just give it a little mix to distribute the mushrooms & dressing.

I LOVE this salad. LOVE it!

As shown here, it made 2 very nice dinner portions. You could also use this for a side salad and serve four.

Warm Mushroom & Arugula Salad is definitely going into the dinner salad rotation here in a big way. I’m making it again this week!

Here’s the recipe – Adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris

Warm Mushroom & Arugula Salad