Pickled Mushroom Salad

Name: Pickled Mushroom Salad with Mozzarella and Olives
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Pickled mushrooms 250 g; Mozzarella 100 g; Pitted olives 10-12; Sweet white onion 1; Celery stalk 1; Quail eggs 6 (or 1-2 chicken eggs); Lettuce leaves 100 g; Olive oil 1 tbsp; Wine or balsamic vinegar a few drops, as needed; Salt, black pepper, dried oregano to taste; Parsley, capers optional; Wine vinegar, salt, sugar, mixed peppercorns, allspice berries, bay leaf, cloves to taste

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20 mins

I really love a homemade salad with pickled honey mushrooms or other wild mushrooms. It is an extremely simple appetizer that takes just 15 mins to make. It is a great solution when unexpected guests show up. Or, and this matters to me, a wonderful side for dinner, especially when you are tired after a long day. The salad uses ready-made homemade pickled mushrooms.

I have most often seen salads like this in Italian country cooking. Wild mushrooms most likely grow there in abundance, and pickling is the most accessible and simple way to preserve them. That is why dishes made with them are so common. It is worth noting that there are as many pickling methods as there are people who do it.

Unlike store-bought pickled button mushrooms, homemade ones are usually less sour, very aromatic and spicy. There is also very little liquid in the jar. You do not even need to rinse the mushrooms before using them. In a salad, the marinade works perfectly in place of the wine or balsamic vinegar that is usually mixed into olive oil for dressing.

You can use any mushrooms in this salad: porcini, slippery jacks, bay boletes, and even button mushrooms. In the simplest version, it is enough to buy a jar of pickled button mushrooms. If you like, serve the appetizer cold or slightly warm; it is delicious either way. As a rule, I add juicy celery stalks, sweet onion, olives and Italian mozzarella.

If you are buying the mushrooms, use button mushrooms, which are always available. Or pickle wild mushrooms if it is the season. You can also lightly boil raw mushrooms and let them cool in the marinade. But the tastiest salad is the one made with homemade pickled honey mushrooms.

Since the salad comes together very quickly, it is best to start by boiling the eggs. You can use chicken eggs or, even better, quail eggs. It is important to add the eggs right before serving so they do not fall apart. Torn pieces of lettuce or a salad mix add a special flavor to the appetizer. They can make up more than half of the volume.

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Ingredients

2 servings

For the salad
Pickled mushrooms 250 g
Mozzarella 100 g
Pitted olives 10-12
Sweet white onion 1
Celery stalk 1
Quail eggs 6 (or 1-2 chicken eggs)
Lettuce leaves 100 g
Olive oil 1 tbsp
Wine or balsamic vinegar a few drops, as needed
Salt, black pepper, dried oregano to taste
Parsley, capers optional
For homemade marinade (if the mushrooms are not pickled yet)
Wine vinegar, salt, sugar, mixed peppercorns, allspice berries, bay leaf, cloves to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Pickled mushrooms

If your mushrooms are already pickled, homemade or store-bought (a jar of pickled button mushrooms, for example), skip this stage. For a salad it is better to use small mushrooms that you will not have to cut up later. If you like, use large slices of porcini; do not chop them small. A mushroom in the salad should be something you can pick up with a fork.
Pickle the fresh wild mushrooms. Clean them of pine needles, leaves and bits of soil, then boil in water for the proper time; I boil honey mushrooms for 10 mins. While they are still hot, pour the marinade over them, to your taste. For the marinade I use wine vinegar, salt and sugar, mixed peppercorns and allspice berries, bay leaf and cloves. The honey mushrooms are ready as soon as they cool down. They can be stored in the fridge.

Salad base

Almost everything in this appetizer is large: the olives, the mozzarella balls, the pieces of lettuce.
Hard-boil the eggs: quail eggs take 3-4 mins from the start of boiling, chicken eggs about 9 mins. Cool them in cold water and peel.
Prepare the olives, mozzarella and vegetables. Put the pitted olives into a mixing bowl; I prefer green ones. Sometimes you come across very tasty olives stuffed with pepper, and I like those. Add the mozzarella as small balls. Peel the sweet onion and cut it into very thin strips; the celery stalk can be lightly peeled and diced. Add the onion and celery to the same bowl.
Add the mushrooms and lettuce. If the mushrooms hold a lot of liquid, be sure to drain it. A pickled mushroom salad should be a little on the dry side, so the pieces of lettuce are lightly coated with dressing rather than floating in it. Be sure to pick all the peppercorns and bay leaves out of the mushrooms. Tear the lettuce or salad mix into small pieces with your fingers and add them to the bowl together with the mushrooms.

Dressing

The dressing is not the marinade from the jar but olive oil; the acidity comes from the mushrooms themselves. Dress the appetizer right before serving. If you want the salad chilled, put it in the fridge for 1-2 hours without the eggs and dressing, then add everything that is missing and dress it.
Add the eggs and dress the salad. Season with salt and pepper and add a pinch of dried oregano; if you like, add some chopped parsley and a few capers, which improve the flavor. If the marinade is sour enough, dress the salad with plain olive oil. If it is not sour enough, mix the olive oil with a few drops of wine or balsamic vinegar. Gently toss the salad so the eggs do not fall apart, divide it among small bowls or salad bowls for serving, and then pour the dressing over it.

Serving

Serve the salad right after dressing it. I prefer to serve pickled mushroom salad at room temperature.

Calories and macros

345 kcal

Serving ≈ 350 g

Protein19 g23% of kcal
Fat24 g65% of kcal
Carbs11 g13% of kcal

100 g97 kcalProtein 5.4 gFat 6.8 gCarbs 3 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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