Arugula Salad

In a writing career in which I have published, at the last tally, over two hundred recipes and counting, along with defending why my recipes have so many steps (because experienced cooks will know what to skip while new cooks panic less when they have specifics), the most frequent question I get is about side dishes. Every cook has their specialties, but none of us ever has enough side dishes. I am doing my part to ameliorate that. On Urban Home Blog you can locate good, easy recipes for everything from capellini with lemon and capers to wild rice, from potato gratin to fennel salad, from nana’s fire and ice to my grandmère’s vinaigrette to Mama Diva’s greens.  As readers, you respond to the side dish recipes – last year’s most clicked link of new content was the recipe for an iceberg lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing.

No side dish is more important than a fresh salad. I wonder if I have written any phrase more often than “serve with an arugula salad,” but I find, surprisingly, that I have never actually published a recipe for one. We will be spending some time this spring in the salad patch, but first things first: below you will find the remedy to my oversight as we prepare a knockout side dish: arugula salad.

Arugula virtually defines the term “fresh,” for no green tastes more alive than fresh arugula. Arugula is known for its peppery flavor, which is among the strongest flavors in the salad bowl. It’s interesting, though, that it’s only fairly recently that arugula has become a familiar ingredient on the American table, and it is on that table that arugula is used primarily as a salad green. As recently as the 1990s arugula, though not unheard of, was an exotic ingredient that one might encounter in a restaurant or a farmer’s market but not in the clamshell that we have gotten used to seeing in the supermarket.

Arugula is a leafy green but not a lettuce, and it is a very old cultivar. There are records of its cultivation as far back as ancient Rome. There, along with parsley, a clump of arugula was added to the plate as much for its antiseptic properties as its flavor. In that time before toothpaste but in the context of other appetites for which ancient Rome was also known, the fact that something cleaned the mouth qualified that substance at least somewhat for status as an aphrodisiac.

From Roman culture arugula proceeded into Italian cooking, where it became a common ingredient in soup and atop pizza. It is tossed with pasta not just in Italian cooking but in eastern European cooking. In the latter, arugula is also served with cheese and boiled potatoes as a cold plate. In northern African cooking, arugula is a breakfast dish, especially if accompanying a piece of fish. Back in Italy, it is even used to make a digestif.

Here is a recipe for arugula salad. It is probably the simplest recipe I have ever published, but like all great ingredients, arugula is so perfect on its own that it benefits from care but rebels at fuss. Therefore use the freshest ingredients for your arugula salad, and welcome these bright flavors to compliment your weeknight dinner, Sunday supper or plate for one.

ARUGULA SALAD

Arugula can also be labeled roquette, rocket or ruccola. Look for bright green spear-shaped leaves that display no brown, black or yellow discoloration. The freshest arugula will be sold as a bunch with the roots intact, but there is nothing wrong with the cleaned arugula in the plastic bag provided it is not treated with preservatives; your best bet is one labeled “organic.” A lemon press is an essential item for your urban kitchen; you can get a good one here.

1 - 2 bunches fresh arugula or one bag prewashed organic arugula
1 lemon
Extra-virgin olive oil
Large-grain salt such as kosher or gray sea
Freshly ground black pepper

1. If using fresh arugula, pull or cut the leaves of the arugula from the sandy roots; discard the roots. Rinse the leaves under cool running water until they no longer feel gritty; place on several layers of paper towels to dry.

2. Clean the lemon under cool water (if the lemon is not organic, use a commercial produce cleaner, following the label directions). Once the lemon is clean, roll it along the counter under your palm. Use a sharp knife to cut the lemon in half.

3. When ready to assemble the salad, drizzle the bottom of a salad bowl with a two count of olive oil. Add a sprinkling of salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper.

4. Position a lemon half into a lemon press. Hold the lemon over the bowl and use the press to express some lemon juice onto the bottom of the bowl.

5. Distribute a layer of arugula along the bottom of the bowl. Hold the lemon press over the arugula and use the press to express some lemon juice onto the arugula. Sprinkle the arugula with salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper.

6. Continue layering arugula into the bowl and then dressing the arugula with fresh lemon juice, a sprinkling of salt, and several grindings of fresh black pepper. When the press runs dry, switch to the other lemon half.

7. Just before serving, drizzle the top of the salad with a five count of extra virgin olive oil. Use your hands to mix the oil into the dressed arugula. Serve immediately.