Known as the “rocket salad,” arugula is widely used in Italian cuisine. This green leaf is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and fiber.
Arugula, a totally underrated vegetable
Tortellini with cream and prosciutto, bow-tie pasta with crab meat, pennette with vodka and salmon, beef filet with green pepper, veal escalopes with mushrooms, mayonnaise and gelatin, arugula always and everywhere. When I think of food in Italy in the ‘80s, these are the first s to come to mind.
I am an ‘80s girl through and through, having grown up with frozen food and pre-cooked risotto in a bag, pouring cream on everything, and believing that shrimp cocktails and profiteroles were the foods to order if you wanted to sound up-to-date, like a real food connoisseur.
Looking back at those dishes now, they and their ingredients still suffer a sort of social stigma. Many Italian chefs have admitted that the problem back then was not in the ingredients themselves, nor in the pairings—cream and prosciutto is still one of my favourite combos—but in the carelessness applied to cooking. Professional cooking was usually not considered a revered job, but rather an assembly line business.
Be it cultivated or, better yet, wild and foraged, arugula is delicious, slightly hot, with a peppery flavour that tingles your tastebuds. After the cold winter weather, I feel a thrill of excitement finding fresh bunches of arugula at the market. It’s a sign that means that my cooking is about to change, incorporating fresher ingredients and lighter preparations.
Arugula belongs to the Brassicaceae family—along with broccoli, cabbage, kale, and the like—and nowadays, it’s often considered a powerful superfood, as it’s rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Nutritional aspects aside, arugula is an adventurous green and welcomes spring back into the kitchen with its bright, lively kick. It adds character to salads and pasta dressings, a great match with cheese, beef, lemon, and eggs.
Arugula combines very well with other leaves, such as lettuce or salad burnet, in big, seasonal green salads. These can be a fresh side to grilled meat or fish, or steal the scene as the main course if enriched with nuts and some aged cheese. Arugula pesto: use it for your pasta or to top a slice of bread.
The vibrant green of arugula makes it a perfect ingredient for pesto: pair it with your favourite nuts – walnuts are the best complement to arugula pungency -, add a handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and a generous drizzle of olive oil. You’ll find yourself with a pungent dressing for pasta that doubles as a dip for vegetables or spread for toast.
In Romagna, on the Adriatic coast, arugula is often paired with prosciutto crudo and stracchino, a soft, slightly sour cow cheese, as stuffing for piadina, the local flatbread, one of the most beloved Italian street foods.
A natural match with beef, it’s generously scattered over tagliata, a sliced grilled steak bathed in good extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. You’ll also find it co-starring in carpaccio, with paper-thin slices of raw veal, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, or bresaola, a lean dried salted beef from the Valtellina in the North of Italy. Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano adds an umami boost to the dish, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar rounds out its taste.
To ease into spring in the kitchen, pick up a bunch of arugula at the closest farmers market and mingle its peppery notes with apples, walnuts, and cheese. When at the market, choose leaves that are fresh, crisp and bright green, and avoid arugula when it looks wilted, bruised, yellowing or spotting.
Used well, it deserves a comeback | Arugula, Apple, and Walnut Salad
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Arugula Benefits and Side Effect, Is Arugula Good For You
FAQ
What do they call arugula in Italy?
What nationality is arugula?
What do Europeans call the salad leaf called arugula?
Is arugula Mediterranean?
What can I do with arugula?
Arugula can be mixed into salads containing mild lettuces for more flavor and texture or can be used as the base for a punchy salad. An acidic dressing using vinegar or citrus balances out the pepper flavor nicely. The green is also a welcome addition to cooked dishes.
Is Arugula a super food?
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a superfood is a food that is rich in compounds that are considered beneficial to a person’s health. By this definition, arugula can be considered a superfood as it is rich in nutrients, such as vitamin A and vitamin K, that support bone building, blood clotting, immune function, cell growth, eye health, and maintaining heart, lung, and kidney function.
Does arugula produce a flower?
Arugula plants produce a flower but it is the leaves that are harvested and eaten raw or cooked. Arugula’s particular flavor is as distinct as the cuisine from its native region. Commercial producers B&W Quality Growers write that arugula stems from the Italian coast of the Mediterranean.
Why should you eat arugula?
Apart from the bodily benefits of eating arugula, the flavor and versatility of this herb make it a unique and unmatched choice for dining. Arugula shines in salad situations where spinach, kale, or Swiss chard may be too tough. In dishes where a lighter green is desired, arugula holds its texture while lettuce wilts.