Black Garlic Mushroom Salad with Berries and Blue Cheese

This ridiculously flavourful Black Garlic Mushroom Salad with Berries and Blue Cheese has so many layers, the title can’t quite capture it. Fried mushrooms with added black garlic, creating umami heaven, caramelised onions, crunchy romaine lettuce, berries to cut through the savouriness, topped with sourdough croutons and creamy blue cheese. All crowned with sweet and crunchy candied pecans. This is a celebration in a bowl.

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• Why You Will Love This
• The Ingredients
• The Process
• Meal Prep

Why You Will Love This 

This Week was Black Garlic Week.

40 days after I started my black garlic in my rice cooker, it was finally ready. Pitch black sticky little cloves of fruity-sweet caramelly umami goodness! Hints of liquorice mixed with balsamic undertones, inviting me to come up with all sorts of treats from savoury to sweet.

All Of Your 5-A-Day In One Bowl

During my weightloss journey, the one thing that made it just so much easier for me, was including more plants into my diet and not limiting the amount I eat. More often than not, I followed the Nutritarian* way (slightly modified to suit me) of eating a huge bowl of salad per day, with as many different veggies and fruit as I could squeeze into it, that kept me full for hours.

This one has mushrooms, carrots, different kinds of greens, blackberries and raspberries. Well, it has onions too, you could count them as portion 6. And you exceeded your goal.

But Sonja, I hate salad! I hear you say. Mmhm…that’s what a friend said too, until I declared her my guineapig and brought her my salads to try. She went from “I don’t like vegetables! Or any food really! I only eat cookies!” to happily munching her way through whatever dish I brought her, including this salad.
She also claimed steadfastly to hate mushrooms in particular and never ever touching blue cheese. We got that fixed. 🙂

So, I dare you, give them a try too.

The Dressing

And of course my Black Garlic Cashew Ranch Dressing! A longtime favourite of mine is cashew ranch dressing. I mean sure, the classic is nice, but cashews add a whole new dimension and creaminess, without any mayo! A better nutrition profile too, due to the fibre and protein from the nuts minus the oil.
And obviously: Black Garlic. Which gives this an utterly irresistible depth, I have yet to find elsewhere. I also added fresh herbs, as I always find the dry ones in most recipes a bit disappointing.
Since it’s incredibly versatile, it got it’s own recipe post, so you can print it easily and use it in any salad you like.

Check this post for detailed instructions on how to make your own Black Garlic.

The Ingredients

Of course, starting with my weekly huge bowl of greens.
But as always, the toppings are what makes salad one of my favourite things to eat:

• Crunchy romaine and a mix of pretty baby leaves.
• sweet, caramelised onions
• Fried mushrooms that will crisp up in the pan
• Enhanced by the umami hit of the little nuggets of black garlic
• Carrots to add more veggies, to keep you satisfied and for sweet cripness.
• Crunchy sourdough croutons
• Tangy summer berries to cut through all the savoury flavours,
• Topped with creamy blue cheese, playing with the black garlic’s fruity tones and
• Highly addictive maple caramelised pecans.

The Process

Despite the long ingredients list, this Black Garlic Mushroom Salad is very easy to make.

Maple Pecans

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a sheetpan* with parchment paper.
• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the pecans, cinnamon, xylitol (or sweetener of choice), maple syrup, 0-calorie maple syrup, vanilla extract, butter, and kosher salt. Stir well to coat the pecans evenly.
• Spread the coated pecans in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the pecans are fragrant and golden brown. Stir them halfway through the baking time to ensure even browning. Alternatively, you can pan fry these.
• Remove the pecans from the oven and let them cool completely. Once cooled, they will become crunchy.
• While the pecans are cooling, prepare the rest of the salad ingredients.

Black Garlic Cashew Ranch Dressing

• Soak the cashews overnight in cold water or for about 1h in freshly boiled water.
• Add all ingredients to a high-speed blender like Vitamix * or Nutribullet* and blend until smooth.
• Have a taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt, pepper or vinegar to your taste.

Prepare the Veggies

• Clean the mushrooms and slice them into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice the onions and carrots. Cut the Romaine hearts into bite-sized pieces.
• Finely chop the garlic.

Fry Onions and Mushrooms

• Spray a non-stick frying pan* with some olive oil and heat on medium. Add the onions and slowly caramelise them. Don’t rush this. They should become soft first, then golden brown. Transfer to plate and set aside.
• Spray the same pan with a little more olive oil and heat on high. Add the mushrooms and fry until beautifully golden brown and crispy. Add both types of garlic and fry a little longer until the garlic smells delicious.
  Season with salt and pepper at the end. Transfer to the plate with the onions and set aside.

Make Sourdough Croutons

• Slice or rip the sourdough bread into bite sized pieces. In a bowl, spray them with more olive oiland mix with your hands. Fry them, turning often, until golden brown.

Assemble

Drizzle a little more of the black garlic ranch dressing over the salad, using as much as desired.

In a large salad bowl, combine the baby leaves, sliced carrots, and Romaine hearts and top with some of the dressing. Combine thoroughly, so every leaf is coated.

Top with blackberries, raspberries, candied pecans, fried mushrooms, onions, and croutons. Crumble the blue cheese over.

Meal Prep

This Black Garlic Mushroom Salad with Berries and Blue Cheese makes 6 generous portions, suitable for Dinner and to keep you satisfied for a long time.
I meal prepped this for the week and kept the ingredients in separate containers in my fridge. Mushrooms, onions and croutons got quickly reheated in a pyrex dish* in my air fryer* and from there it took 5 minutes to assemble dinner after work.

For More Tempting Salad Recipes, Check These:

Grilled Peach Mozzarella Salad

Sweet Potato Grape Salad with Goats Cheese

Strawberry Black Pudding Salad

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

If you enjoyed this recipe, please share. It helps me a lot.