My husband has a twin sister and she happens to be one of my favorite people. She also happens to have impeccable style in interior design and fashion. And on top of that, she’s a wonderful cook and uses her innate sense of style when creating a meal, plating a dish or setting a table in ways that are unexpected but beautifully subtle.

I created this salad by combining two different salads made by my dear sister-in-law, which also happens to use two of my favorite seasonal ingredients: mushrooms and beets. Oh and there’s always Burrata which is heavenly all-year round.

INGREDIENTS (approx. 4 servings)

For the dressing:

1 bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 garlic clove

2 pinches of fleur de sel

freshly-cracked black pepper

For the salad:

10-11 ounces of Burrata cheese (2 medium balls )

1 medium sized red beet

4-5 large King Oyster Mushrooms (also called King Oyster or French horn mushrooms)

4 red radishes (for garnish)

Extra virgin olive oil

Fleur de sel

Freshly-cracked pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare the vinaigrette by blending the bunch of Italian flat-leaf parsley (including stems), extra virgin-olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, apple cider vinegar, half a garlic clove, fleur de sel, and freshly-cracked pepper. Blend until smooth and set aside.
2. Peel the skin off the red beet and slice in paper-thin pieces. I wish I had a Japanese mandoline for this, but just did by hand. Each piece does not need to be a perfect circle.
3. Slice the mushrooms long ways and cut each slice about 1/8 inches  thick (about 4 pieces per mushroom).
4. Cut the radishes into quarters for garnish
5. Heat your pan on high and generously drizzle olive oil. When the pan is hot, place in the mushroom slices. Fry each side to a golden brown and season each side with fleur de sel and freshly-cracked pepper.
6. Once all of your mushroom slices are cooked, you can start plating.
7. If you are plating individual salads, place your beet slices on the bottom of the plate (approx. 4-5 slices or more if you would like). Then cut a ball of Burrata placing 1/2 of the creamy cheese on top of the beets. Then place 4-5 slices of mushrooms on top of the cheese and generously drizzle the parlsley-vinaigrette on the salad. Finish with the radish garnish and a pinch of fleur de sel and freshly-cracked pepper.
8. If you are plating a large salad for everyone to share, follow the same instructions as above but in full amounts of each ingredient.