on rocket and what to do with it
Go to any cafe and you will notice that rocket (or arugula in the USA) is quite the "in vogue" salad green at the moment. It has a strong peppery taste that makes it a nice change from plain lettuce, and what's more, it is super easy to grow yourself. I sowed a packet of organic rocket seeds this afternoon in a long trough. You can use any container, even a bucket or ice-cream container with a few holes nailed in the bottom for drainage. It depends on how much you want to grow.
The method is simple: Fill the container with potting mix up to about a couple of inches from the top. Cover with a thin layer of seed raising mix (I use Yates Black Magic). Scatter seeds over entire surface. I recently heard that you should scatter them as thick as you would hundreds and thousands lollies over a cake, but that depends on how much you like hundreds and thousands! You get the idea though. Cover with another thin layer of seed raising mix, and press down gently. Water gently either with a watering can with a rose sprinkler end, or pour water through your fingers. It is important to keep the soil moist until the seeds germinate, but not too wet. As the leaves are big enough, just snip them off as you need them, rather than harvesting the whole plant.
This is part of my sister-in-law Jeni's garden, bursting with rocket. I'm so jealous of her real garden, when I just have a community of pots! But the question is, what else can you do with this abundance of rocket besides eat salad for every meal? Because of its peppery, herby nature, rocket is actually quite versatile. A few weeks ago I made pasta with rocket and chilli pesto, which was really good. No, pesto isn't just for basil. You can make it out of coriander, parsley, rocket, even broccoli. It depends on your tastebuds really. Let me share this yummy recipe with you. Its quite simplistic and a nice change from meat focussed meals (although my husband my disagree with me there).
To make pesto from this recipe, add some olive oil to the rocket mixture until it is the consistency you like, and store in a jar in the fridge for a few weeks, covered with a layer of oil to stop it going brown.
Pasta with Rocket and Chilli Pesto
Serves 2
200g quality dried pasta (eg. spaghetti)
large handful rocket leaves
1/2 cup roasted pinenuts or almonds
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/4 tsp chopped fresh chilli
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
1 tbsp finely grated parmesan
1. Cook pasta to packet instructions.
2. Meanwhile, blitz rocket in a food processor with nuts, garlic, chilli, lemon, salt and pepper and parmesan.
3. Drain cooked pasta, saving 1/4 cup cooking water. Mix reserved cooking water with rocket mixture then toss through pasta until evenly combined.
Recipe adapted from Assemble by Annabel Langbein
Also check out these recipes for potato, red onion and rocket soup; roasted tomato, red onion and rocket tart; quiche of blue cheese, rocket and tomatoes; roasted pear and rocket tarts. If you have any other ideas for uses for rocket, please post a comment and let me know because I think I'm going to have a lot of it in a month or so!
Why would you eat out when you have this at home every night!
