Lettuce Eat Tastier Greens

On the scale of culinary excitement, salad greens usually lie near the bottom, relegated to fillers and unpalatable diet food.

But salad greens needn’t be bland. In fact, arugula (ah-ROO-guh-lah), also known as “rocket” and “green espresso,” is a potent, peppery leaf that will add new dimension to your salads. Try it; you may never eat iceberg again.

Paul Rogalski, the chef at Calgary’s Rouge for the past six years, says the popularity of arugula is growing, in large part because people are willing to try different flavours. “We use arugula all over the place,” he says. “We use it everywhere we’d use spinach but want more flavour.”

Arugula has been cultivated since Roman times and is a staple in Italian and French cooking (the French call it “roquette” and the Italians, “rucola”) but it wasn’t until the 1980s that it became a trendy gourmet food in North America. The good news? You don’t have to be a trendy gourmet to cook it.

Chef Rogalski recommends mixing it with olive or canola oil and a few nice cheeses. “I think it’s a terrific leaf, and also it’s something that we grow here in Alberta,” Rogalski says. “It’s wonderful, it’s unique and it keeps us purchasing locally.”

Like all greens, when you’re buying arugula, look for fresh leaves. If your arugula is slightly wilted, sauté it or soak it in water for half an hour before placing it in the fridge; Rogalski says it will return to its crisper self.

Buy it, try it
You can find arugula at farmers’ markets, some grocery stores and from Hotchkiss Herbs and Produce. Visit www.hotchkissproduce.com

• Use it as a salad green
• Sauté it quickly in oil
• Grind it and use in place of basil in pesto recipes
• Put it in sandwiches, on pizza and on pasta