Arugula -- please share your favorite uses.

[MrsJonesey]

It's coming up gangbangers. Looking for new ways to use it up.

[MrsJonesey]

Again, thanks everyone. Some really great ideas. As a thank you, here's one I've made several times. It's a chickpea puree bruschette (which I amp up with lemon zest and garlic) topped with a simple arugula salad. Really good and healthy too.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[Eatisan]

Harvest early. Add thin-sliced Gala apples, flaked parmesan, toss with small bit of olive oil and just barely with lemon. BARELY. Toast some walnut pieces and at the end dust them with plenty of Chinese Five Spice Powder while still in a warm pan, toss into one beautiful salad.

[Karen_Schaffer]

That sounds like a brilliant combo!

[shaebones]

My all time favorite homemade pizza topping is arugula, carmelized onions, toasted pine nuts and goat cheese.

[ceekskat]

Make Israeli couscous salad with chopped kalamata olives, cucumbers, red onions, roasted red peppers, lemon juice, olive oil, etc. and mix with arugula. Started making this at home after having it at local place which serves it with their lamb burger.

[Karen_Schaffer]

It makes a fabulous salad with chopped dried apricots and pinenuts, dressed with a walnut oil vinaigrette. One of my favorite combos!

Pear and blue cheese is another great one. Ham and hard-cooked egg. Roasted beets and goat cheese. I have a ton of arugula volunteers coming up myself. Must start eating!

[Susan627]

I love this stuff, too! I know it sounds weird, but I use it as a bed under pasta and then top with pasta sauce. It probably wouldn't work with a more delicate sauce, but for my basic, hearty meat sauce, it works. Keeps me from eating quite so much pasta and adds some good greens!

[MrsJonesey]

Doesn't sound weird. Sounds good, but I do love my arugula.

[splatgirl]

My favorite green! I get so sad when the season gets too hot for it and it bolts.

On a wood-fired oven pizza with crushed tomato, prosciutto, chevre, thin sliced garlic, red pepper flakes and just a bit of mozz.

On/in anything with bleu cheese.
With watermelon as a salad.

I think it gets a little slimy if you try to cook it, but a handfull rough chopped and tossed into a soup right before serving is great.

[escondido123]

If you keep cutting it when it gets hot, I have found you can use it as a cooked bitter green.

[MrsJonesey]

The watermelon salad sounds good. Love Nigella's Watermelon Salad. I bet that would be good on a bed of arugula. I recently bought one of those personal-size melons and it was pretty good. Might have to get another to have it with arugula. Thanks!

[azveggieguy]

From "The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes": saute 2 cloves garlic + 1/2 tsp chili flakes in o.o., add chopped pear tomatoes (28 oz can) + 1/2 c. calamata olives, simmer until reduced. Toss 12 oz. penne and 2 c. chopped arugula, top w/sauce, serve w/grated parm. Fantastic! (And If I'm starting off w/a bag of arugula from TJ, I'll usually use the whole bag.)

[MrsJonesey]

These two pasta dishes sound great. Thank you both. The soup I made was quite tasty. So glad I asked for help.

[Isolda]

Boil about 12 oz pasta (penne or another short tubular shape is best) in well-salted water. While that's cooking, cream about 5 oz goat cheese--the soft kind--with one or two cloves finely mimced garlic in a huge bowl. Add enough oil to make it creamy. Slice some cherry tomatoes in half. The instant the pasta is done, scoop out some of the water and reserve; drain the pasta and dump immediately into the bowl with the goat cheese. Stir in a large quantity (at least 9 oz) arugula and let it wilt a bit. If it seems dry, stir in some pasta water. Add the cherry tomatoes and some freshly ground pepper, and serve. This can be warm or cold, but does lose flavor the next day. When that happens, I just add more arugula and salt. That cures a lot of things.

[barefootgirl]

Pile it on top of a thin-crust pizza hot out of the oven. We had this nearly every day for lunch when we honeymooned in Italy.

[MrsJonesey]

Great ideas! Thanks, everyone. I do love it piled on top of pizza and in salads. Made a ribeye and arugula salad last night. Have been meaning to try it sauteed, as I love almost all sauteed greens I have tried. Will have to make some pesto. Soup! Never thought about using it in soup -- it's what's for supper and I think some paninis with roasted beets, onion, goat cheese and what else? Arugula.

I misspoke, I suppose. It's growing like crazy but this was planted last fall.

[pinehurst]

I LOVE the stuff in salad, wilted (quick saute with olive oil, s&p) over pasta, on sandwiches, diced finely into deviled eggs. Great stuff.

[chefj]

Makes a great soup. just sub it in a Watercress soup recipe.
I ofter dress it with a little lemon vinaigrette and top flat breads or risotto with it.

[BadRabbitAU]

I use it as a bed for any seafood entree with a sweet sauce. The peppery bitterness provides the perfect foil for citrus glazes and the like.

[escondido123]

For awhile we grew "wild" and I guess you would call it "domestic" arugula. The former was great as a bitter green, sauteed with garlic as a side/tossed with pasta and we often threw a handful or two into any pasta or white bean dish. One of the best combos was well browned zucchini slices, then add arugula and garlic, toss with penne--romano or feta as cheese. The sweetness of the zucchini and the bitter of the arugula play off of each other beautifully. The domestic--and young leaves of the wild--are of course perfect for salads--shaved Parmigiano and olive oil being my favorite, though feta is great too.

[chefathome]

Pesto (which I freeze any remaining in ice cube trays), in pasta and of course with steak or tuna tartare. I also make an oil from it for drizzling. The obvious is salad but I like shaved asparagus with arugula in salad.

Where the heck do you live? We cannot even fathom planting it outside until the end of May here in Alberta!