Recipe Mushroom Cumin Salad

[Mountain Cat]

This is from Dahlia Abraham-Klein's book, Silk Road Vegetarian: Vegan, Vegetarian and Gluten-Free Recipes for the Mindful Cook. Page 89. All recipes are vegetarian and apparently gluten-free - a few do contain dairy (which can probably be sourced animal-rennet-free). This recipe was created as a contribution to the CookingBites Cookbook Game, #7.

I halved this recipe to cook it. The full recipe should serve 4. (as a side, please.)

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb (500 g) baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• Salt, to taste
• Freshly squeezed juice of one lime
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a skillet set over medium-high heat, add the garlic and sauté, stirring and shaking the pan for 1 minute. Make sure not to burn the garlic; if need be, turn down the heat or briefly remove the pan from the burner. Add the mushrooms and stir quickly and constantly for 5 minutes.
2. Add the cumin, ground red pepper, salt, and lime juice and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms have released their liquid and most of it has evaporated. Let cool.
3. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve cold

Thoughts on the recipe: Excellent and simple. Flavors are awesome, but however, when I make this again, I'd place this once it is chilled on a bed of lettuce - perhaps Romaine, or mixed red and green leaf, or a bit of Boston (depending on mood). Boston, ATM my first choice, would add some crunch without adding additional flavor - unless, of course, you'd love that. This recipe is definitely a SIDE. Those two servings actually became my lunch. I will be making this again, with the lettuce. (Photo here is for how I actually created this dish this first time as requested.)

I did not chop the cilantro as finely as requested. Do as you wish.