right now we are loving this crazy, fringy wild arugula that is abundant in our gardens. a few years ago, chuck brought home a small piece of the edible green — roots and all — that was given to him by another "gardener acquaintance" (it is sort of a long story... we really didn't know this person... perhaps chuck knew her for half a day before she made a trip home to her garden to dig up the arugula and bring a bit of it to him in that way that eager fellow gardeners do i suppose.) so we planted it. no big deal. we had already been growing the rocket type from seeds (favorite way to eat = heaped on top of a friday night pizza)... so, into the garden this new kind went... where it grew. it thrived. it multiplied... year after year. it's little yellow flowers pop up faster than we can eat it and before we know it seeds are scattered and new plants are sprouting up all over the place. apparently it is a bit more unruly than the regular arugula. and while the rest of the garden is in limbo right now, (the tomatoes are growing and have lots of green fruit on them, the savoy cabbages are growing layers upon leafy layers, the beans are growing but are far from having bean pods, etc...) this leafy treat is ready right now for some kitchen action.
here's a simple way that we served it last weekend. the thin arugula leaves got washed, chopped and tossed into a pyrex. next, i added a few glugs of olive oil, a bit of sea salt, a very small amount of pepper and a few spoonfuls of capers that i had in the fridge. water was boiled to cook some of my favorite pasta shape, orecchiette. right after straining the pasta i tossed that onto the greens and mixed it all up. the warmth of the pasta is enough to wilt the arugula a bit. we ate it warm... and then later on, tried it cold and both ways were very good.
we are certainly looking forward to that first summer tomato from the yard and to pulling up the first beets, but until they are ready we'll be creatively finding was to enjoy this prolific peppery plant.