Category: Arugula

Arugula is a tender green in the brassica family. Its flavor is nutty, spicy and peppery. Some people describe it as ‘bitter’ and don’t like the pungent ‘bite’ of the undressed leaves. Fair enough, let’s fix that! By adding just a little (or a lot!) fat (oil, cheese, olives, nuts, avocado) and acid (vinegar, lemon, lime, orange) this dressing tames and rounds out the heat and bitterness of the arugula. Now you can customize the salad further with your favorite additions of protein, fruit or nuts you’ll have a really interesting satisfying salad.

Arugula Salad

•  Arugula (a CSA portion is what I used, it’s about 7 ounces), washed and dried

• 2 tablespoon oil (olive, walnut are both great but any kind), more as needed

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or vinegar, more as needed

• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

• 2 ounces, shaved or grated cheese (goat, parmesan are great) again, more as needed.

• Optional add-in ingredients; any chopped fruit (fresh or dried), flavored oil, nuts (candied nuts are especially good) any cooked protein, salmon and grilled tofu are really good.

 Directions

In a serving bowl, drizzle the arugula with the oil, squeeze in the lemon juice (or vinegar), and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss with your hands, make sure all of the leaves are covered with dressing and taste for seasoning. If it is too tart add a little oil and toss, if it isn’t tart enough add a little lemon or vinegar and toss and taste again, it should taste bright but have a nice mouth feel of oil coating the leaves. Don’t forget salt and pepper. Add the optional add-ins if using now.

I really hope you non-arugula lovers try this. You arugula lovers already know how good this is!

Have a great week.

Mo

You can use spicy salad mix or spinach, or beet greens or anything leafy. My favorite pesto is made from arugula. I like it better than basil. Anyway, let’s start here. Bag-o-arugula.

If I have been asked once I have been asked 100 times.
“Do I have to wash it?”
“Yes.”
“It looks wet, didn’t you wash it at the farm?”
“No, we put our greens in a tub of water to wash some dirt off and the odd bug, and to hydrate it so it keeps for you well. We don’t wash it. You need to wash it. Trust me, wash it.”
This is the water left in my salad spinner after I washed my arugula.

Not a great picture, but you can see dirt and weird stuff. Not too bad this time, but I still don’t want any dirt or the odd bug in my food. I’m glad every time I see what is washed off my greens that I took the time to wash it.

Ok, on to the pesto. Grab any kind of nuts you like. Pine nuts are most common in pesto, but they are crazy expensive now so feel free to use any kind of nut you like. Cashew pieces were what I had. Any nut is better roasted in my opinion, so I roasted my cashew pieces before making my pesto. You can skip that step if you like. Get your washed and dried greens, about 1/3 of a cup of any kind of nuts you like and some olive oil and a few cloves of garlic.

Chuck the garlic and nuts in the food processor and give them a spin. Stick your face in and smell that, roasted cashews and garlic. Yum.

Add exactly three glugs of olive oil and start adding your greens a few handfuls at a time.

Do that until you have all the greens mixed in and add more olive oil if you feel it is too dry. Mine didn’t need more. When the greens are all incorporated, salt and pepper to your liking.

I like to have some pesto in the freezer to have on hand in the winter. I have heard some people put the pesto in ice cube trays and put the cubes in a Ziploc bag and just grab a cube when they need it. You can do that.  I like to put the whole batch in a large Ziploc and just break off what I need. This went into the freezer.