Rucola salad

Rucola: and what to eat it with?

The Mediterranean weed called rucola was a favorite of ancient Romans for its mild and spicy taste – with mustard and nutty notes at the same time. Doctors recommend ruccola to improve metabolism, prevent iodine, iron and vitamin C deficiency. And chefs love this salad for its ease of preparation and versatility: rucola can be both the main ingredient of the dish and a wonderful decoration.

It is gratifying that this plant, insanely popular in the Mediterranean and used in a huge number of dishes of Italian, Greek, Spanish cuisine is no longer something inaccessible to us.

The right rucola should be curly, with thin stems and lots of small up to 5 cm in length leaves – only then the salad will be tender. Hand tear the leaves and do not cut them! The stems themselves can be coarse and are generally not used, although they are quite edible.

Lemon juice or lime juice and toasted pine nuts or pine nuts, shrimp are wonderful with the rucola. Sprinkle the juice on the leaves, and sprinkle the nuts either directly on the leaves or on the ready dish.

You can’t ruin the rucola with balsamic vinegar, mustard, and olive oil, which allows you to pick a dressing for this salad to suit any taste. It is noteworthy that rucola leaves are rarely mixed with the rest of the dish: most salad recipes with this herb begin with the words: “make a “pillow” of rucola on the plate”.

“Pillow” if the salad is served on a large platter. A basket or nest egg dish is best for sized bowls. You don’t have to twist and weave – just arrange the torn leaves nicely.

Coliseum Salad

Put sliced or wedged tomatoes on the ruccola, pour the olive oil and balsamic vinegar over them. Spread thin “petals” of parmesan cheese on the top, sprinkle with “Italian herbs” seasoning and roasted pine nuts. When you have finished building, you can begin to destroy it at once!

THE TWO WARDS: Arugula salad with mozzarella cheese. In this case you should first put the cheese sliced in circles on the “pillow” it’s better to take straight from the brine and then the tomatoes cherry tomatoes are especially delicious with mozarella and after that – everything in the same way: dressing, spices and nuts.

Hot appetizer “Tender”

Actually, again you need a “pillow” of 1-2 bundles of rucola. Tear off the leaves, put them on a plate, sprinkle with lemon juice. Fry the chicken liver about 500g in oil or butter until the blood is gone – just a few minutes, the liver should be tender!

For flavor, you can add 1-2 sliced onions to the pan. Place the cooked liver on the rucola, garnish with lemon slices, olives, cherry tomatoes, sprinkle the salad with pine nuts and chopped greens – parsley and dill.

For those who don’t like liver or fasting, use mushrooms instead: wash and pat the caps dry with a paper towel and sauté them in vegetable oil on a high heat, also with onions.

Salad “Orchard”

In America, rucola was also known – under the name of “caterpillar”. Perhaps that’s why it goes well with our native vegetables – beets, carrots, turnips, pumpkin. Vegetables must be pre-boiled – but not fully cooked – and cut into slices or circles.

The caps should be lightly olive oiled and fried on a grill or baked in the oven, a little salt and peppered. Place the browned vegetables on a bed of rucola and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Grilled vegetables may be different: thin slices of eggplant, zucchini, zucchini, or sweet bell peppers are perfect.