Day 2 : The Other Side of What ?

Hosted by Kate at The Neverending Shelf.
Explanation of my participation here.

« In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, ‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter’.

‘One side of what ? The other side of what ?’ thought Alice to herself.

‘Of the mushroom’, said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight. Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying to make out which were the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly round, she found this a very difficult question. However, at last she stretched her arms round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each hand. »

(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Chapter Five : Advice From a Caterpillar)

The Caterpillar's Salad
(aka Mushroom Salad)

Ingredients :

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 pound button or other mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup minced onion

1 tablespoon slivered garlic

½ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup chopped parsley leaves for garnish

1. Put 3 tablespoons oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally and sprinkling with salt and pepper, until they give up their liquid and begin to brown, about 10 minutes.
2. Lower the heat a bit and add the onion, then cook until the onion softens, another 5 minutes or so.
3. Add the garlic and cool, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes more. Turn off the heat.
4. Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and stir in the vinegar and remaining tablespoon of oil. 5. Let cool to room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Garnish and serve or let sit at room temperature for another hour or two before serving.

Recipe found on The Way the Cookie Crumbles and taken from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.