Cooking with Arugula

Arugula is actually more popular as a green ingredient to the ordinary salad with a good fragrance. It is also called the roquette, an aromatic salad green. It is also known as rocket, roquette and rucola. It is famously used for many Italian dishes. This herb is low in amounts of calories. It has higher contents of vitamin C and A. In the ancient Rome this plant was cultivated because of the seeds and the leaves. The seeds were grown for their oils because it gives more flavors. The Arugula seed was even used as a main ingredient in making different concoctions for an aphrodisiac effect. This practice was started in the first century in Rome. Another traditional during a meal in Rome was offering a salad made with Arugula and other leaves like mallow, romaine and lavender and seasoning it with some cheese.

Arugula can be bought in many groceries and market today usually in the fresh food section. Many stores offering organic an healthy food also carry them. They are usually marketed in a bunch so the roots will stay intact. Arugula can be found in the produce section of most health food stores, specialty markets, and supermarkets. It’s usually sold in small bunches, with the roots intact.

Buyers of fresh Arugula should choose the green leaves without any wilting marks or any brown spots at all. The roots must be clean and should smell fresh. It should be stored in a clean plastic bag and placed in the fridge. You should use in just a matter of days. Arugula is an herb you can buy anytime of the year but it’s usually at its best during June up to December.

Before cooking you should wash the leaves very well and immerse it in a bowl of cold water which helps in removing the grit. Pat each leaf dry. You can also dry it out using your salad spinner. Below is a recipe of Aurugla pesto.

Ingredients:
1. a bunch of arugula with the stems taken out.
2. three fourth teaspoons of Kosher salt.
3. one third cup of extra virgin olive
4. ground pepper for more taste

Procedure:

Put some ice and water in a huge bowl then place it aside first. Get a medium pan and fill it with water and put the salt and let it boil. Put the arugula leaves when it boils and take it out and put them at once to the bowl with the ice. Then transfer them to the paper towels and let it drain. Roll it further to take out the excess moisture. Put it in a blnder and pour some olive oil, salt and pepper and puree it until it will appear to be thick. You should use it at once after pureeing or store it in a covered jar.

Originally posted 2009-07-11 17:54:05.