Purslane

The market was in full swing last week, overflowing with summer's bounty. I can't resist the beautiful but pricey heirloom tomatoes--so juicy, sweet, and flavorful! Peaches are also a must right now, as are the candy-like Walla Walla sweet onions. This week I bought the young, small ones with the stems still attached, perfect for grilling. But my most thrilling discovery was purslane.

While I may be relatively new to the delights of purslane, others, especially those in Latin America, India, and the Middle East where it grows like a weed, are not. It is actually a type of leafy succulent (portulaca oleracea), and can be eaten in its entirety, stems and all. We ate it raw, just chopped coarsely, but apparently if you cook it as you might spinach it becomes "mucilaginous" which, I'm assuming means a bit thick and perhaps snotty? Whatever the case, many cultures use it profusely in soups and stews, as in the Mexican Verdolagas con Carne de Puerco. In addition to tasting quite good, a bit sour and even salty, purslane is also extremely good for you. It boasts more Omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy vegetable, and is apparently loaded with good for you antioxidants and vitamins. Summer purslane is what is at the market right now; we fell in love with winter purslane, more commonly known as Miner's lettuce, early on in the spring months. It too is a type of succulent, and Miner's lettuce is also chock-full of healthy stuff; it even made it onto the "perfect foods" list. All I know is that both types of purslane taste terrific and make a deliciously crunchy and uniquely flavorful addition to a salad.

So what did I do with all of this "perfect" food? After thoroughly cleaning and picking through the purslane, I chopped it and splashed it with just a touch of champagne vinegar, my best olive oil, salt and pepper. Then I cut up big, meaty chunks of those gorgeous tomatoes and put them on top. I recently received some "finishing" salts as a gift, so I sprinkled the tomatoes with the coal-black Hawaiian salt, then doused the entire thing with olive oil. The only thing else we needed to round out our meal was those lovely grilled Walla Walla sweet onions and some chicken that had been marinating in herbs and garlic for a good part of the day. Delicious. Simple, but that seems to be a theme around here lately.