Arugula

Background. I love greens. I don’t like spinach at all. It leaves a waxy film on my teeth. Arugula doesn’t do that and it has a pleasantly peppery flavor not unlike it’s Brassicaceae cousin, horseradish. Also it grows abundantly in my garden. Here are some moves that you can do with arugula.

1. Put it on pizza, obviously.
2. Toss it in salad, obviously.
3. Dehydrate it and use it as a spice.
4. Put it on a grilled cheese sandwich.
5. Chiffonade it and mix it with dry slaw for fish tacos.
6. Make arugula-pecan pesto.
7. Mix it with cold grains (farro, quinoa, brown rice, etc.) for a tabbouleh-style salad.
8. Mix with sour cream and make a horseradishy sauce for steak or prime rib.
9. Make a cocktail sauce with it.

Why It Works

1. Arugula is native to the Mediterranean so pizzas and flatbreads are a natural choice.
2. I sometimes use arugula as the main or only leafy in my salads, but often it’s an accent. Honestly, it depends on my guts. They don’t call it rocket for nothing. I love arugula with bleu cheese crumbed in it.
3. I was recently trying to wild a handful of arugula in my microwave and accidentally dehydrated it. I found it could be crushed and used as an interesting spice.
4. People often just put leaves of this on grilled sandwiches and then you bite into them and the whole wilted leaf comes out and flops on your face. Don’t be that person. Chop it first.
5. Because it’s cousins are horseradish and wasabi, there’s a natural affinity for fish.
6. Is this even pesto anymore? I don’t know. Call it a spread. I like it better on a sandwich (mixed with mayo) or flatbread than in pasta. Pestos can gum up in pasta. Just toss pasta with a chiffonade of leaves instead.
7. This is a great hot/cold meal. You can serve arugula and grains for dinner and then make a cold salad with the leftovers for lunch the next day.
8. Again, because of it’s plant family and it’s peppery taste, it stands up well to bold flavors like steak.
9. It would be interesting to make a verde version of cocktail sauce with tomatillo-based “ketchup.” (Do we even need the scare quotes given the history of ketchup? Or can we just run with it?) I think you could do a pretty cool version with tomatillos, arugula, vinegar, agave nectar, and ketchup-y spices.

Mods:

1. Do a combo of step 3, step 9, and the suggestion in Why It Works 9, and make fish tacos with a tomatillo-arugula cocktail sauce.
2. For step 6, if it’s ultimately going on a sandwich, why not mix it with Pecan Aioli or Handmixer Mayo?
3. Combine step 6 and step 1.