A Weed of the People

We find vegetable gardening is a little difficult when we can’t water. This is why you need to grow ARUGULA  in your garden. It is actually a weed that doesn’t need much water, it grows wild in many parts of Europe, especially Mediterranean areas and it will grow wild in your garden, too. People in Europe pick it wild and throw it in their salads. Arugula is a weed of the people.

And it’s good for you, high in vitamin A, folic acid, iron, potassium, calcium. It’s a veritable miracle. The small, young leaves are our salad of choice (see previous recipe for Freitasalad), but as the leaves grow larger and stronger in flavor, sauté them like spinach and they lose their bite and take on an entirely different flavor and texture, not as slimy as spinach can be.

ARUGULA SAUTE

1 T olive oil

½ LB mixed wild and cultivated mushrooms

1 small red onion, slivered

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 c dry vermouth

¼ t coarse sea salt

A pinch of red pepper flakes

8 c washed, dried arugula

parmigiano

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat and add mushrooms , onions and garlic for about 4 minutes.  Add vermouth and continue to sauté until liquid is mostly absorbed.  Add salt, red pepper flakes and arugula and stir until the arugula is wilted, about 3 additional minutes.  Sprinkle with a little cheese and never eat spinach again.

Image Credit:
Arugula – Creative Commons, Mushrooms with arugula by yosoynuts is licensed under CC by 2.0

Brent and I have now been traveling for many years to Europe to find the perfect pieces for Eye of the Day, but at one time we were star-struck novices and our first trip to Paris to shop for the store was one miraculous impression after another.  A circuitous route to Just Eat It, I know, but together we had a culinary revelation that led to the recipe I am about to share with you. At a small restaurant on the left bank we ordered a Salade de Roquette. No big deal, right? But somehow, this salad attained celestial status to us. Arugula. Olive oil. Salt. Dates.

Now, fifteen years later, Arugula Salad has become ours. We grow arugula so spiky, so small, so spicy and Meyer lemons so juicy and, well, lemony that we think we are now higher on the evolutionary scale than we were on that first trip. This is OUR arugula salad for two (feel free to multiply liberally):

FREITASALAD

2 cups emerald green, spiky, spicy, fresh arugula

1 juicy Meyer lemon (or a regular one if necessary)

A few healthy glugs of Cretan olive oil from our last shipment of pottery from Crete

Maldon sea salt, a little more that you might think

2 Tablespoons of pan roasted pine nuts

4 Medjool dates, pitted and quartered lengthwise

1/3 cup or so of golden curls of Parmigiano Reggiano

Pepper

In your favorite salad bowl, place the cleaned arugula. Squeeze the lemon juice over the arugula, add the olive oil and salt and toss together. Divide between two plates and split the pine nuts, dates and Parmigiano Reggiano between the two salads. Grind a little black pepper over the top if you want more spice. And it is. Over the top.