Mushroom Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

Image via: Food and Wine

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Ingredients

6 Servings

Mixed wild mushrooms of different types like shiitake, enoki, and oyster (1 pound; thick stems removed and caps thickly sliced)

Thickly sliced bacon (1/2 pound; crosswise cut into ¼-inch strips)

1 thinly sliced leek (only the white and tender green parts)

Sturdy baby greens like mustard, tatsoi, arugula, or spinach (6 ounces)

Pecans (3/4 cup)

Cold fresh goat cheese (3 ounces; crumbled)

Sorghum or molasses (1 teaspoon)

Fresh lemon juice (1 teaspoon)

Cider vinegar (1/2 cup)

Vegetable oil (1/2 cup)

Extra-virgin olive oil (1/2 cup)

1 head of garlic with cloves crushed but not peeled

Freshly ground pepper

Salt to taste

Image via: Local Milk Blog

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 425°.
• Heat both the vegetable and extra-virgin olive oil in a saucepan and bring them simmer with garlic. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes or until becomes fragrant. After that, strain the oil after removing the garlic.
• With 6 tablespoons of the garlic oil, toss the mushrooms in a large bowl. Season with pepper and salt.
• Take a baking pan and roast the mushrooms there for 35 minutes. Roast until they become golden or crisp while stir once or twice in the meantime.
• Take a pie plate and toast the pecans until fragrant or 7 minutes. Set aside to let them cool.
• Cook the bacon in a large frying pan over a relatively low heat. Cook for 8 minutes or until becomes crisp while stirring frequently.
• Shift the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon so that the oil is drained out. Take a heatproof bowl and strain the fat into it, pour the half of it to the frying pan. Cook the leek into that fat over relatively low heat for 6 minutes or until becomes soft. Add vinegar to it and simmer for nearly 5 minutes or until it reduces to almost 3 tablespoons. Stop cooking and whisk in the remaining bacon fat, lemon juice, and sorghum.
• Toss the greens with toasted pecans, roasted mushrooms, and vinaigrette in a large bowl. Season with pepper and salt and toss again.
• Sprinkle with goat cheese and bacon. Serve!

A mushroom salad with bacon vinaigrette served warm for a healthy lunch sounds just heaven at a winter noon. This dish will go well with a light wine that will taste refreshing with the bacon and help to stand out the taste of mushrooms. The preparation will be tastier with oyster mushrooms but any mix of wild mushrooms will be perfect for this salad.

For more healthy salad recipes on Stagetecture, click here.