The Purloined Recipe

from www.aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

Serves 4

This is a home-type dish that is as simple to prepare as “scrambled eggs with…” but much more nutritious. Serve as a side dish, a brunch main dish or as a filling in tortillas and pitas.

1 cup purslane
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium-size ripe tomato, chopped (not skinned)
1 SERRANO or jalapeno chile, finely chopped, or freshly cracked black pepper, according to taste
2 to 3 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 egg beaten

Set aside a few raw sprigs of purslane for garnish. Steam or blanch the rest until tender-crisp (three to five minutes). Drain thoroughly, transfer to a plate covered with several layers of paper towels and blot dry.

In a large pan, sauté garlic and onion in vegetable oil until soft. Add tomato and chile, and sauté until the mixture becomes sauce-like.

Season with soy sauce. (If you aren’t using the chile, add freshly ground black pepper.) Sauté until mixture is warm and the flavors marry.

When ready to serve, add the beaten egg to the warm mixture in the pan and mix gently. The egg will bind the mixture loosely but should not harden into scrambled eggs. Garnish plate servings with reserved sprigs.

PER SERVING (estimated): 91 calories, 4 g protein, 9 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, 68 mg cholesterol, 200 mg sodium, 68 percent U.S. RDA Vitamin A, 77 percent U.S. RDA Vitamin C.

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from www.aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

Serves 3

2 cups purslane, with stems, diced
6 eggs
1 cup wild or domestic onion
Butter
1 cup nasturtium leaves and stems, diced

Carefully clean and rinse the purslane. The entire above-ground plant can be used as long as it is still tender. Add the diced onion and purslane to a heated and buttered cast-iron skillet. Cook for about five minutes. Add the eggs and cook omelet-style. Serve with a tomato slice.

Recipes By Ingredient, The Recipes, onions, side dishes, wild greens

from www.aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

Serves 2

1 quart purslane including stems
Approximately one-half cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Collect tender purslane, including the stems, and carefully rinse to remove any sand or soil. Gently boil for about two minutes or until tender. Drain the water and chop the purslane into smaller pieces.

Return the purslane to the frying pan and shred the jack cheese over it. Keep the purslane in the pan just until the cheese melts. Be careful not to over-melt the cheese. Serve warm.

Recipes By Ingredient, The Recipes, side dishes, wild greens

(recipe from the book Local Flavors used with permission of the author, Deborah Madison)

Serves 2 - 4.

If you look closely at the little bags of greens labeled “spinach” that are sold in our market in Santa Fe, you’ll see that, in fact, they are quelites, or wild spinach.

Around the same time in Montpelier, Vermont, you might pick up some big
verdant bunches of cultivated Good King Henry, or Lamb’s quarters as they are
also known. Those in the know, buy vast amounts. A few minutes of steaming
and these greens are bright and tender. Some of the farmers tell me that they
add them once steamed to sautéed onions, which is very good. I sometimes add
a little Teleme cheese, then wrap them in a corn tortilla to make a delicious
taquito. Or I just serve them as a vegetable. They are excellent added to a pot of
beans, too.

10 oz. quelites, Lamb’s quarters, or spinach, stems removed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 lg. shallot or small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup Teleme or grated Monterey Jack cheese, more or less

1. Wash the greens well, then steam or plunge into boiling water, just until thy are wilted. Drain, then rinse under cold water. Press out excess water (they needn’t be bone dry) and chop finely or coarsely, as you wish.
2. Melt the butter in med. non-stick pan. Add the shallot or garlic and cook,
   stirring frequently for about 2 minutes. Add the greens and cook until heated
   through and any water has evaporated. Season with salt to taste and scrape in
   just a little bit of nutmeg. Stir in ½ cheese.
3. Scrape the greens into a bowl and spoon remaining cheese over them. Season with pepper and serve.

The Recipes, garlic, onions, side dishes, wild greens