I cooked: Arugula Salad Mix and Match 

I came across this very intriguingly yummy recipe by RecipeGirl awhile back. I love mushrooms... I have loved them since I was about 8 years old. And then she talked about balsamic onions - another delicious combination (just reading it makes me drool). It was a shoo in for a must try recipe. I saved it in my favorites list and it ran through my mind for several weeks. But I was not too confident yet about making the sandwich because I didn't have the perfect cheese for it. So, I decided to tweak the recipe a little - and turned the pieces I loved into a salad. But, RecipeGirl, I will still make the sandwich soon, and when I do, I shall tell you about it.

Things fell into place for me quickly. I had bought fresh mushrooms from the market in Connecticut, and I had this nice crabmeat in a can that I could use as additional toppings (also from the sunday Connecticut market). Down to Earth had delivered a fresh batch of micro arugula the day before too.

So I followed RecipeGirl's instructions for balsamic, caramelized onions. Olive oil, sliced white onion, salt (I used sea salt), balsamic vinegar... and patience. It takes about 20-30 minutes for onions to get caramelized (even longer if you like them darker).

"

And I stewed the mushrooms (I used black shiitake mushrooms, but you can use other types of meaty/fleshy mushrooms too). Olive oil, salt, white wine and mushrooms.... I still cannot figure out how to reduce the amount of water that seeps out of the mushrooms. For this particularly recipe though, I lived with it since I later used the mushroom liquid as dressing.

I used the liquid from the mushrooms, mixed it up with more balsamic vinegar and a pinch of coco sugar to make some additional dressing for the salad. It's good to mix this up on the stove to make sure it all gets mixed in together.

And finally, assemble your salad with arugula, caramelized onions, mushrooms and some crabmeat. I think this will work with roasted vegetables too. Without the toppings (of crabmeat) - it can be a perfect side salad for a steak.

For something I made up, this came out pretty good. I hope you try it, and enjoy it too. Drop me a note when you do!