Purslane Salad with Tomatoes and Arugula

The sweetness of ripe tomatoes sets off the lemony taste of purslane in this summertime salad, while arugula and onion blossoms give it a little kick.

Ingredients

4 big handfuls purslane

2 handfuls baby arugula

1 cup ripe cherry tomatoes, halved crosswise and sprinkled with salt

1/2 onion blossom, pulled apart into strands (or sub 1-2 tbsp finely chopped spring onion or red onion)

Nasturtium flowers for garnish (optional)

 Vinaigrette

Good-quality extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 large spoonful sherry vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch or cut the purslane into bite-sized pieces, discarding the bottom of the stems if they seem at all tough when you break them (if the sprigs are on the small/young side, this won't be a problem). Wash gently and dry thoroughly in a salad spinner.

Whisk about 1/4 cup olive oil or a little more together with the rest of the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl (you want an olive oil to lemon-and-vinegar ratio of about 3:1) until they form an emulsion.

Toss the purslane and arugula with the vinaigrette in a salad bowl. Scatter the tomatoes over the top and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with the onion blossoms and a little extra black pepper, and garnish with nasturtium flowers.

Serves 3-4.

Simple and Elegant: Nasturtiums and Snap Peas

Found before dinner: A rioting cascade of nasturtiums in our backyard and sugar snap peas in our produce box. The two together make a quick and light springtime salad that's easy enough to throw together for a one-person meal but also stunning enough to display at a dinner party.

Ingredients

Sugar snap peas, ends snapped and strings removed

Nasturtiums, rinsed and dried*

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Arrange snap peas and nasturtiums together on a plate, drizzle lightly with good-quality olive oil, and sprinkle with salt before serving.

*Nasturtiums are reminiscent of radishes, and are spiciest when grown in full sun and fully opened. For a more delicate taste, choose nasturtiums that are just opening or growing in part shade.

The Food in Our Food

In light of the recent media commotion over the ammonia-washed waste trimmings in our beef and caffeine-and-benadryl stuffed chicken (who are apparently also fed their own feathers, laced with arsenic and old lace...I mean, delicious anti-microbials), you may be finding yourself craving some food that didn't come from an industrial farm.

For example. You know those nasturtiums growing in your back yard? Turns out they're delicious. And rarely fed feathers or washed with ammonia. It's like a win-win situation.

To make them the centerpiece of your dinnertime salad, whisk up a vinaigrette of olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt, and pepper, drizzle lightly over baby greens and toss well. Top with diced grapefruit or pomelo, lightly toasted pine nuts, and a little crumbled goat cheese. Scatter with nasturtium petals and/or whole flowers, and serve alongside roasted beets, or risotto, or sablefish.

None of which have ever been ingredients in dog food. There's something comforting about that.

Eggs on Toast with Aztec Spinach and Green Coriander

I'm in love with June produce. (True, some people might think of today as July, but I prefer June 33rd. Anything to maintain the illusion that my grant is due next month.)

First, there's the garlic. Soft-skinned, totally fresh, balanced between the wimpy spring variety and the dried out autumn and winter staple, perfect for adding in slices or slivers to every green vegetable you can think of. Not to mention the ones you couldn't think of because you'd never seen them until they showed up in your CSA box.

Case in point: Aztec spinach. Similar to regular spinach, but milder, and a bit drier so it holds its structure better when sauteed. Perfect for pairing with an egg atop toast on a lazy summer Sunday.

And finally, a new discovery in our produce box: green coriander. I always thought you could either eat the cilantro fresh or dry the seeds for a few months until they turned into brown coriander, but it never occurred to me to taste them in between. And, go figure, they taste more corianderish than cilantro, but fresher and more cilantro-y than coriander -- another perfect halfway point.


 



The point being, you should cook this and eat it. But then, that's always the point.
 
Ingredients
2 pastured chicken eggs, medium-boiled (about 7 minutes) or poached
Olive oil
1 small clove garlic, slivered
Several handfuls Aztec spinach, coarsely chopped (or sub chard, amaranth greens, or spinach)
A sprinkling of green coriander
2 slices fresh whole-grain bread, toasted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 nasturtium flowers* (optional)

Heat a wide pan over medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil and the garlic, turn the heat down a bit, and saute for about 30-60 seconds or until the garlic is tender. Add the greens, turn the heat back up to medium, and toss with the garlic and olive oil (I often use a spatula and a cooking spoon together to corral the greens until they cook down a bit). Saute for 2-4 minutes, until greens are wilted (saute regular spinach for just a minute or two, and other greens for longer). Add a light sprinkling of green coriander about a minute before it's done (you can substitute a couple pinches of chopped cilantro or parsley if you don't have green coriander).

Toast the bread, drizzle very lightly with olive oil, cover with wilted greens, and top with an egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, garnish with a nasturtium, and serve.

Serves 2 for breakfast.

*Nasturtiums, it turns out, are not just another decorative edible flower...they actually have their own, slightly floral, slightly radishy, totally delicious taste. We kind of want to wander around our garden grazing on them like some new breed of flower-obsessed sheep.