Mushroom Caviar but without the Caviar

I've been on an Eastern European food kick lately since I had an interview last week which was situated next to a small Russian grocery store. I walked in and immediately felt like I was in Russia as everyone was speaking russian. Even the product labels were in Russian! Or at least a cyrillic based alphabet. I made my way around the store and was amazed at the variety of products they carry, things that were once hard to find (frozen manti anyone?) are now being carried in so many stores like Baza.

So anyways, I made my way to the prepared foods section where I was greeted with the yummy aroma of the hot bar. I picked up a container and took some cabbage with sausage (my favorite!), kofka, potato thing (sorry I cannot remember) and manti. All of it was pretty amazing.

I made my way over to the cold bar where I found a huge variety of "salads" or as we would call them "dips and spreads." I picked up a few that I had never heard of such as Oliver Salad, Georgian Eggplant Caviar and Mushroom Caviar. Of all of these, the caviar was my favorite. Today, I decided "hey, let's see how difficult it is to make this mushroom caviar" and so I did! Also, I researched the recipe to figure out where the "caviar" comes in, apparently it is just a fancier name for a dip or spread. Lovely.

It was actually really easy with the help of my food processor. Without it, it may have taken a long long time to chop the vegetables. The one and only thing you need to be careful of is not chopping the mushrooms or onions too finely or they will just get all watery as they cook. If I had gone any further I would have ended up with mushroom soup. So here is the recipe:

1/2 medium onion finely chopped
1 lb mushrooms (any kind)
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 tbsp fresh dill or 1 tbsp dried
2/3 cup sour cream or a little less of mayonnaise
3 tbsp butter
Salt n Pepa

Start by wiping your mushrooms, they may have dirt on them. Next, I diced the onion into quarters and chopped it in the food processor. Add this to a hot skillet with melted butter and stir around a bit.
Next, chop the mushrooms in the food processor, add to the skillet with the onions.
Add the lemon juice and stir occasionally, cooking for about 5 minutes or so.
Add salt n peppa and check the mixture. May need to add a little more. If your mushroom mixture looks too watery, DO NOT PANIC, I added some bread crumbs. not a lot, just a sprinkle. Stir the mushrooms and watch the liquid disappear.
Allow mixture to cool and then add the mayonnaise or sour cream and dill. I used mayonnaise tonight, I would say about 3 tablespoons. The reason I used mayonnaise is because that is how Baza prepared it and I loved it.

I let my caviar cool in the fridge for a bit to let all of the flavors meld together. I love to eat this with good crackers or even pita chips. Also, I really want to try this on a grilled cheese yummmm.

Final Result! Not the prettiest, but tastes awesome

Note: If you are able to harvest wild mushrooms, I am sure they would be great in something like this as! Enjoy!