Arugula is in the brassica family and allows those who prefer to avoid kale or cabbage to carry on fully nourished. Here in the northeast, I plant great quantities of arugula every 2-3 weeks from early spring through late summer.  I absolutely LOVE it. What isn’t eaten as salad is frozen raw, crammed in bags just like dandelion. This will be the base of green juice during the non-growing months. I’ll post that juice recipe next week. 

This salad base is deceptively simple but i have never served it to anyone without receiving a demand for the recipe.  It is complete as is but at the moment, the herbs, wild and cover crop greens I’m adding to it include lamb’s quarters, pea shoots (the tender budding leaf tips of the viney plants), violet leaves, chive flowers, thyme, and dill. A big bowl of big flavors.

For each 6 cups of arugula, scatter in 

1 T.  EACH torn basil and cilantro leaves

1 clove minced garlic

1 T.  ground brown flax seed  — for body and added nutrition (you can quickly grind 2 cups of the whole seeds in the blender and store in a jar in the freezer) 

  Optional additions:

       1 T minced chives

          ½ – 1 cup diced very ripe avocado

Substitute up to a quarter of the arugula with wild greens such as lamb’s quarters, wood sorrel, “garlic mustard”,  or  whatever you have and know well.

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DRESS directly over the bowl with:

2 T extra virgin olive oil

1 T fresh lemon juice OR balsamic vinegar

1 T tamari

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Laurie Goodhart and her husband co-founded and operated two certified organic artisanal goat fromageries, Nettle Meadow in Warrensburg, NY from 1990 to 2005 and Domaine De Courval in Waterville, Quebec from 2006 to 2017. She created and trademarked the multiple award-winning cheese, Kunik. For more about her how her life experience brought her to develop time-saving ways to eat as much nutrient-dense food from her local environment as possible, see this previous post

Goodhart lives in upstate NY and continues her work as a professional artist and avid home gardener. Since 2007 she has devoted most of her studio time to an extensive body of work collected under the concept, Remnants And Residents Of A Lost Sanctuary Of Aphrodite.

Laurie can be reached through her website, lauriegoodhart.net