Arugula Salad

I did not know that arugula and rocket were the same thing. All those cooking shows I used to watch (and still do), and they were always making salads or sandwiches with "rocket". I always wanted to try it. I mean seriously...who wouldn't want to eat rocket?

Kids tend to stick with what they know and like, so over the years the only lettuce I would buy would be iceberg and romaine, throwing in something different didn't fly, so its just now that I'm getting adventurous and trying all that I can find available.

Arugula sounds foreign...exotic even. And I have bought it from time to time over the past couple years. I've noticed more of a variety at the grocery store, so it is more readily available.
Arugula has a strong flavour on its own. Some chefs describe it as peppery.

Being a dark green leaf, you know it's good for you, containing high amounts of both Vitamin A and Vitamin C, with lots of Calcium and Iron.

The older leaves are cooked from what I've read, adding it to pastas seems to be common. Seems weird, but I will certainly give that a try. Maybe not so weird now that I think about it...I cook spinach.

But for now, I have a salad using baby arugula. Ingredients can be swapped out, especially the cheese. Any hard white cheese would work, and I've used Parmesan, Asiago, and white cheddar.

Baby Arugula Salad

4 cups baby arugula
2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan
2 Tbsp broken pecans
2 Tbsp red onion, chopped small
1/2 cup grape tomatoes (cut in half)
croutons

Dressing
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 grated garlic clove (optional)

Add all the salad ingredients to a bowl. Whisk the dressing and pour over the salad. Toss to coat. Salad may be served adding a few whole pecan halves for garnish and croutons.

I made this with and without the garlic and like it both ways. There are a lot of flavours happening and the garlic is not really needed especially since the arugula has a distinct flavour all its own. The dressing is light enough using the rice wine vinegar, the flavour of the arugula is not overpowered.

Arugula is not crisp like iceberg lettuce or romaine, so adding the croutons gives it a little crunch...

Asparagus Sandwich

I'm just about "asparagussed" out. Time to move on to something else. I've eaten more asparagus in the last month or so than I have in my whole life. But it is tasty!

It's one of those veggies we didn't have growing up, so I don't think to put it in my shopping cart. It's not cheap...usually. The bag from Costco was reasonable, but the last bunch I bought at Sobeys was more than $8. Yikes!

But I couldn't go through that much asparagus and not make sandwiches...with cream cheese. One of my favourite treats when there's a party and sandwiches are called for. Or even good as an appetizer. Yum!

I use light cream cheese to cut down on the calories, and try to stick with whole wheat bread. I always cut the crusts off when making these and use minimal cream cheese. Since they are rolled you just need enough to make them stick when rolling them up.

There are a few sticks of asparagus left in the fridge which I will make into sandwiches tomorrow.

Then it's on to arugula! Stay tuned for a tasty salad I've been working on.