Herbs by Nikki Duffy

Author:Nikki Duffy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408896679
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

Purple perilla Perilla frutescens var. purpurascens

Rocket, salad and wild

Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa; Diplotaxis muralis

PLANT GROUP Half-hardy annual; hardy perennial

HARVEST All year round

Rocket, also known as roquette or arugula, has suffered from its own popularity. Now that it is so prevalent on menus and in supermarket salad bags, it’s hardly the prized leaf it once was but forget that. It’s a completely delicious and riotously peppery leaf that works equally well in small quantities as a herb or salad ingredient, or as the main player in a dish. There are two basic varieties: ‘salad’ rocket and the sharper-leaved, hotter-flavoured ‘wild’ rocket.

In the kitchen

Rocket is, undoubtedly, a fantastic salad ingredient. In a green salad to be served up as a dish in its own right, I think this peppery leaf is best combined with other leaves that offer varying tastes and textures – some crisp cos and lemony sorrel, perhaps, or a few soft, sweet butterhead lettuce leaves and some chervil or parsley. However, when rocket is accompanying something else – like a big, hearty warm salad of roasted squash and walnuts, or a garlicky aubergine parmigiana or moussaka – it needs no amelioration. In most cases, I lean towards wild rocket rather than salad rocket, simply because the flavour is hotter and richer, and the leaf more elegantly spear-like. Your own tastes may take you in the other direction.

•Rocket can be wilted down in a little oil and/or butter in the same way as spinach (and is considerably less watery). Just pop it straight into the pan on a medium-low heat and cook until it collapses. I love it cooked like this and combined with sautéed fennel or raw tomatoes and tossed into pasta.

•Wilted with a little garlic, then chopped and combined with soft goat’s cheese and a touch of grated Parmesan, rocket makes a delicious filling for homemade ravioli.

•Rocket is a superb partner to bland, rich, creamy ingredients like avocado and mozzarella, to salty-sharp things such as air-dried ham or capers, and to bulky starches like potatoes, squashes or pulses. Keep these attributes in mind and you can see that the salad possibilities are endless. Try, for instance, a few curls of peppery wild rocket with sliced cold potatoes and a good trickle of extra virgin olive oil. Add some shreds of air-dried ham and finish off with a few rocket flowers.

•Add rocket to soups, instead of or as well as spinach leaves.

•Scatter rocket leaves over an omelette before folding (see here).

•Both types of rocket produce small, pretty flowers, which are very good to eat too. They are particularly delicious sprinkled on a pizza before serving.

How to grow

Rocket is easy to grow and if you sow your own every month or two from February to September you can create an almost year-round supply of fresh young leaves.

In early spring, start rocket seeds off in plugs. During warmer weather, choose a partly shaded spot and sow directly into the ground or a big pot. Cut the leaves as soon as they look big enough, as and when you want them, and the plants will grow more.

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