Oyster Mushroom and Onion Salad

I was looking for a way to use the wonderful oyster mushrooms we get from LPO. Can't wait to try this salad. I found the recipe by chance- hope it is good! I'll be adding strips of grilled beef to the recipe for some additional protein.

The secret here is to marinate the onions until they are sweet and soft. The marinade then becomes the salad dressing, with the fragrance oranges and honey. This would also work well with young almond-flavored Agaricus mushrooms like A. augustus. The recipe serves 4 as a side salad, or two as a main course.

12 oz. Pleurotis ostreatus (oyster mushrooms), coarsely sliced or whole
1 head of Romaine or leaf lettuce
1 small red or sweet onion (Walla Walla or similar), sliced in paper thin rings
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp. salt
Zest of 1 large orange
Juice of 1 large orange
1 Tblsp. soy sauce
4 Tblsp. sherry
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
1 Tblsp. olive oil
2 Tblsp. rice wine
1 splash soy sauce
1 clove garlic
1 grated carrot
Marinate the onion two hours in advance. Slice the onion paper thin, separating the layers into ringlets. Place the onions in a bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the honey, red wine vinegar, salt, sherry and soy sauce until the honey is thoroughly melted and the mixture is almost boiling. Pour the liquid over the onions. Mix in the zest and the juice of one large orange. Set aside for about two hours at room temperature.

Prepare the plates for serving. Chop the lettuce into medium strips and spread onto plates. Sprinkle grated carrots over the lettuce. Place the marinated onion on top of the carrots, reserving the marinade for later.

Sauté the oyster mushrooms. In a wok or frying pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil with a high flame, then add the chopped garlic, stirring. As soon as the garlic starts to turn slightly tan, about 30 seconds, add the mushrooms and stir to avoid burning the garlic. After about two minutes the mushrooms should be starting to sear a bit. Add the rice wine and a splash of soy sauce (to taste) and heat for a few more minutes until the mushrooms have absorbed most of the wine (the rest will evaporate.) Distribute the mushrooms onto the onions, on top of each salad, then dribble the onion marinade onto the salads as dressing. Serve immediately.

* I'll be adding several strips of grilled beef to the top of this salad.

 Salad without the beef.

Salad with the beef.
**Nice salad. The mushrooms were delicious. I liked the marinated onions as well. Easy to make.