Friday, September 1, 2017

Celebrate the end of the season with one last purslane recipe!

pesto and purslane focaccia
With all of my desktop activism, I've gotten behind on my blogs. Sorry! But I wanted share at least one last purslane recipe with you.

With the monsoon rains winding down, I have a feeling that this may be the end of purslane season. The little patch in the front yard, where I happily gather purslane for breakfast or dinner nearly every day, has flowered (little yellow buds) and the stems are getting woody. Hmph! Last night I had to remove the stems before adding the leaves to my cucumber salad. So sad because the citrusy stems are the best part in that dish.


I think they're still good if you cook them. A couple nights ago I made a yummy pesto and purslane "focaccia" on some bread I found at the nearby Babylon Market. (You can also use prepared pizza crust, toasted English muffins, or thin ciabatta.)

I cut a handful of purslane stems with tear-shaped leaves from my favorite purslane patch - leaving the rest of the plant to continue to grow to be harvested later.  I washed them in a bowl, swishing them around, so the little black seeds would fall off into the water (to be thrown into the back yard to sow more purslane for next monsoon season.)

click on pic see little black seeds
I quickly chopped the purslane up (stems and all) and sautéed them until tender with about 3 tablespoons of prepared pesto and maybe 3 tablespoons of olive oil. I spread that over the focaccia and topped it with a chopped tomato and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.  I warmed it up in the pre-heated oven (400 degrees) for a few minutes -  just long enough for the pesto oil to sink into the crust and the parmesan to brown a bit. Easy smeasy dinner in a few minutes. And so good!

We considered browning the bread with the pesto and then topping it with a salad of chopped purslane, tomato and queso fresco (feta would also work.) That would have been good a little earlier in the season when the stems were less woody.  Last week,  I used our handy-dandy George Foreman grill to whip up a quick purslane, tomato and fresh mozzarella (pesto is good in this too) Panini. One morning I just threw some purslane on a bagel with cream cheese. Another evening we had a picnic of Mexican verdolagas stew with black beans on a tortilla topped with queso fresco. Oh, yum! I'm getting hungry!

Oh, how I will miss harvesting this tasty, nutritious green fresh from my yard!


Get it while you can! Recipes here.