imple Vegetarian | Recipe of the Month: Roasted Mushroom Salad (plus bonus taters)

This Friday, even as figuring out what to make for dinner, Brian took examine of three cogent facts:

1. We had some mushrooms in the fridge that needed to get used pretty soon.
2. We also had plenty of lettuce out in the garden (so far, the one crop we have that's doing well).
3. I still needed a Recipe of the Month for June to put on this blog.

Putting those items together, he searched the Internet for recipes that included both mushrooms and lettuce, and he found this recipe for Roasted Mushroom and Romaine Salad on the Cookin Canuck website. He had to modify it slightly, since the lettuce in our garden was Boston lettuce rather than Romaine, and the mushrooms we had were white button mushrooms rather than creminis. (Side note: did you know these are actually the same species, Agaricus bisporus? The only difference between them is that creminis are older before they're harvested. Leave them on the ground still longer, and they grow up to become portobello mushrooms. So the only reason portobello mushrooms cost so much more is that it takes longer to grow them. Well, I thought it was interesting.)

Anyway, we figured these adjustments might not make too large a distinction. We both like Boston (butterhead) lettuce higher than Romaine besides, and without a doubt any sort of mushrooms saut?Ed with olive oil, garlic, and clean rosemary ought to simplest be specific. And because we favored all the exceptional flavors inside the salad as nicely?Balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and pecans?Setting they all collectively had to be a guaranteed winner, right?

Well, now not in reality. It most effective took us some bites of this salad to finish that, even as all the additives of it have been specific for my part, they simply did not play together nicely. In my opinion, it become the juxtaposition of the mushrooms and the lettuce that did no longer artwork. Adding a warm, cooked thing over pinnacle of glowing veggies wasn't the problem; we would attempted that earlier than with this Warm Chick Pea Salad with Arugula, and we pretty preferred the aggregate. It became just the flavor of the seasoned mushrooms that did now not appear to mix well with the salad and dressing. We likely would possibly have loved either the dressed vegetables or the mushrooms through themselves (or likely as an accompaniment to pasta or polenta), however the together have been now not enjoyable. We managed to finish off the dish, however we felt no hobby in attempting it once more.

Fortunately, one thing saved the dinner from being a total bust. Rather than simply slice some bread to accompany the salad, Brian decided to restore some potatoes. And because he turned into using rosemary at the mushrooms, he idea it'd make experience to put some at the potatoes as properly, together with a touch olive oil and parmesan. And the ones became out to be now not in reality proper, however tremendous. Roasted alongside the mushrooms in a 450-degree oven, they cooked up crisp on the outside, soft on the internal, and full of flavor. Brian used a pound and a half of potatoes, and we consumed most of them at meal time and then stored going back to the refrigerator all middle of the night prolonged to sneak quantities of the leftovers. Even bloodless, they had been still tasty.

So, despite the truth that the legitimate Recipe of the Month changed right into a sadness, we nevertheless have one new dish that we're going to sincerely be making once more. If you want to do the identical, proper here's the quite easy recipe:

Cut 1 1/2 pounds baking potatoes into good-sized chunks. (Small potatoes can be quartered, larger ones halved and cut into thick slices.) Toss the pieces with 3 Tbsp. olive oil, 2 Tbsp parmesan, 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary, and 1 tsp. salt. Spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone liner (like the ones Brian got for Hanukkah last year) and bake in a 450-degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until they're golden and crispy. Then try not to gobble them up too fast.