Arugula salad with fried eggs and sizzling mushrooms

Tonight we were in the mood for something light for dinner -- a salad, but something a bit more substantial than an ordinary green salad. I had a big bag of arugula from the farmer's market, as well as lovely eggs with positively orange yolks, and some golden oyster mushrooms.

This does dirty two whole pans (horror!) but the results were well worth it, and the labor involved was minimal enough that I didn't break a sweat. These quantities are, obviously, for two.

1. Take two shallow bowls or deep plates and make a bed of torn arugula in each one.

2. Take about half a pound of oyster mushrooms. Rinse off any dirt, trim away woody ends, separate them, and slice into roughly 1" pieces. Dice a small onion or a couple of shallots and sauté in two tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat for a couple of minutes. Add mushrooms and cook a minute more before lowering the heat to medium low. Add half a teaspoon of salt and a generous sprinkling of cumin. Leave the mushrooms to cook gently for about 20 minutes, stirring every now and again, until they start to brown around the edges. If they finish up before you're ready for them, just turn them off and let them sit in the pan.

3. When the mushrooms are getting nearly done, fry two eggs in salted butter. When they are done to your liking, slide one egg onto each bed of arugula. The heat of the egg should start to wilt the greens a bit.

4. Array half of the mushrooms over each egg. Sprinkle a bit of sherry vinegar over each salad (important!), grind a few turns of the pepper grinder over each, and serve. If you've left the yolks runny, the diner can break them to make a dressing for the greens -- the olive oil and butter, of course, will serve to dress them, as well. A shaving of parmesan or crumble of goat cheese would be a fine addition, I'm sure. I may try that next time, though it was delicious enough without. Bread makes the meal a bit more substantial and gives you a means to wipe the plate clean. Sorry no picture; we ate everything up too quickly!

Comments

[mrh]

Eggs for dinner? Shocking!

Sounds delicious, though. I like this kind of creative thinking.

[will]

I need to stop your blog, Red!!

Or just get my gf to read it for me late in the day before I go to the store.

I get so hungry after I read this stuff.

[redfox]

Bwah, as they say, ha ha.