Warm Portobello Salad with Arugula, Goat Cheese, and Pine Nuts

I love telling myself I'm going to have salad for dinner. It seems so perfect and healing in those moments after a heavy lunch or after sitting at your desk for hours having missed yet another workout. But then I get home and realize I don't have the ingredients to make the dressing - or more truthfully- the idea of a salad at dinnertime just doesn't hold the wonderment it did earlier.

That is until the other night. I needed that redemption of a vegetarian supper but didn't want to sacrifice comfort with a cold boring salad. In my fridge I had portobellos, apples, and a few other staples. I set to work, not even knowing what I was creating, and lucked into a salad that even I (the hypocrite) would eat for dinner, gladly, any night.

Warm Portabello Salad with Arugula, Goat Cheese, and Pine Nuts
* Serves 2 as dinner or 4 as a starter/salad course.

Place 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large rimmed nonstick pan over low/medium heat.

As soon as the butter melts, add in:
3 portabello mushroom caps, lightly cleaned with a damp towel and cut into 1 inch chunks
good pinch of kosher or sea salt
good grating fresh cracked pepper

Let the mushrooms saute for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add in:
1 apple, cored, quartered and cut into 1 inch chunks
additional small pinch salt and pepper

Cook stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes, until the mushrooms have wilted and shrunken and darkened all over. Then stir in:
a grating of nutmeg
3/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth

Put the burner on high heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, until nearly all of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat, and add in:
the juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (or more) rubbing it between your fingers to release its aroma

Mix thoroughly and set aside while you prep your lettuce. In a large serving bowl toss together:
5-6 oz package arugula
good grating fresh cracked pepper
small pinch kosher or sea salt
2-3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Add in the mushroom and apple mixture scraping out all the juices and dressing, toss again, then crumple in:
2 oz goat cheese

Toss again lightly and serve.