Bitter Greens Salad with Potatoes, Mushrooms and Quail Eggs (Food and Crafts for All Occasions)

It looks like a salad week in my blog (high time to go on strike and demand some meat!), but I can’t help myself but give you one more of our favorites. It makes a great vegetarian lunch or a first course of a bigger meal.

Though wild mushrooms are very seasonal, when they are available, I rush to a farmer’s market, grab as many as I can put my hands on; then thoroughly clean, sauté and freeze them in small Ziplocs so we can enjoy these goodies whenever we want.

You will need:

2 medium heads of frisée salad, stalks trimmed off OR 1 regular 7 oz package of spring mix (baby oak lettuces, red swiss chard, mizuna, tatsoi, baby spinach, arugula, frisée and radicchio)
5-6 quail eggs, boiled, halved
5-6 small potatoes, unpeeled
2 handfuls of oyster mushrooms, chanterelles or black trumpet mushrooms, whichever you can find

Dressing:

3-4 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp champagne vinegar
1 tsp creamy Dijon mustard
1 tsp grainy Dijon mustard
¾ tsp white sugar
4-5 Tbsp mild tasting olive oil
Salt and coarsely ground black pepper, to taste

Rinse and half the potatoes, cover them with water and bring to a boil. Salt the water and cook the potatoes until tender. Drain well and season with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, minced garlic, chopped fresh tarragon and parsley, all to your taste. Keep them warm for serving.

Oyster mushrooms are not wild and usually sold clean, so all you need is to cut the large ones in 2-3 parts, leaving the small guys whole. If using chanterelles, which are wild and, therefore, much more dirty, clean them first using a can of compressed air. It only works if mushrooms are dry. Then, if needed, wipe each all over with a wet paper towel. As with oyster, cut larger ones and leave small whole.

If using trumpets, tear each in half lengthwise and soak briefly in cold water. Rinse well and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a wide pan and sauté the mushrooms until they turn golden brown. This will take a couple of minutes, no more. Add a splash of dry vermouth, squeeze in a bit of lemon juice and season with salt, black pepper and chopped fresh tarragon. Remove from the heat and let cool down just a teeny bit.

For the dressing, combine all the ingredients except oil in a small bowl. While stirring with a small whisk, slowly add the oil to form an emulsion.