A couple weekends ago we had family over to see the new house we moved into 2 months ago. Dinner was a collaboration of perfectly seasoned steak prepared on the barbecue, (special thanks to Dave & Lisa), which was accompanied by none other than baked potatoes the size of footballs with all the fixings, including fresh-from-my-(future)-mother-in-law’s-garden garlic chives. Lisa and Dave provided the meat, starch and visiting grandparents, and I was to provide the rest…

I had visited the farmer’s market that morning as I usually do on Saturday’s and received a call telling me to pick up something for a salad and a vegetable of sorts. I knew I wanted to go with arugula for the salad. Maybe something like an arugula salad with sliced pear and shaved Parmesan? Perhaps. And for the vegetable squash immediately popped into my head because almost every table at the farmer’s market had some variety of squash plucked from their farms.

I’m not a super huge fan, but will eat it under the right circumstances. Meaning grilled and smothered in something gooey, salty and/or otherwise fattening and artery-clogging. As I walked around the market of swirling colors my eyes stopped on the bland (in color, but not in flavor) and quite forgotten cruciferous vegetable: the cauliflower. What’s the easiest and tastiest thing you can do with cauliflower? Roast it. So with arugula and cauliflower in hand, or post-consumer recycled bag rather, I head over to Trader Joe’s to pick up a few remaining ingredients.

The recipe for roasted cauliflower can be found here.

So what to do with this salad of mine. I know I probably shouldn’t be revealing this, but I stole this recipe from the back of TJ’s organic arugula bag. There are always recipes on the back of those things and I figured if I couldn’t think of something I could always go with that recipe. And this one went over with rave reviews, even from those who dislike arugula’s bitter edge.

I used fresh farmer’s market arugula which is larger and spicier than TJ’s bagged variety. The warm mushrooms and shallots wilt the arugula slightly and subtly take away it’s bitterness. The toasted pine nuts add needed crunch and extra nuttiness to the baby portabella mushrooms. The goat cheese and balsamic vinegar finish it off with a zesty and creamy consummation.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe:

• 2 cups arugula
• 6 ounces baby portabella mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
• 1 Tbs minced shallots
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbs pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese, (I used goat cheese with fresh herbs)

Toasted pine nuts in a pan over medium heat until slightly brown. Set aside to cool. Saute shallots in olive oil until translucent. toss in mushrooms and cook until tender. Transfer to a bowl. Toss warm mushrooms with arugula, add balsamic vinegar and pine nuts. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Top with crumbled goat cheese. Serves 4-6.

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