You’ll hear arugula described as peppery, nutty or spicy. It’s more flavorful than many salad greens, but mild enough to grace most dinner tables. No longer considered an exotic salad green, arugula is now widely available at every local farmers’ market and grocery store. And while it might be available all year around, as an Atlanta-area crop, it thrives in cooler temperatures, happiest in our fall and spring growing seasons.
Alishia Giusto of Renew Farms sings the praises of arugula. “I love arugula. I like mixing it in salads and it’s great as a garnish. I eat it in almost everything. I’ve never cooked with it but it makes a great pesto with walnuts that really brings out that spicy, nutty flavor,” she said.
Renew Farms is an eighteen-month-old enterprise, the project of Giusto and her husband Ian who decided to transition out of a restaurant management career to farm an acre of his family land in Newnan. The couple plans to expand their farm to eventually about five acres.
This year they sold their produce at Our Community Farmers Market in Sharpsburg and at the Main Street Newnan market days.
Renew Farms has restaurant clients, too, like SA ZA in Newnan which recently offered an artisan lettuce evening. The Giustos grew a special container garden for the event – a bamboo log as long as a pickup truck bed filled with heirloom lettuce and arugula seedlings. The restaurant’s customers that evening were able to harvest their own greens for dinner.
The Giustos grow ‘Sylvetta’ arugula, a variety with deeply cut leaves that’s sometimes called “wild arugula.” They do succession sowing so that they can keep arugula coming as long as possible. The tiniest seedlings are sold as microgreens and as the plants mature, the leaves are cut and sold in bags either alone or mixed with lettuces.
As a matter of fact, Giusto finds that’s the best way to introduce new customers to arugula. Mixed into a bag with leaves of more familiar lettuces like green or red Bibb, it’s an easy way to get people to see how they like the tender green leaves.
At local farmers markets
Cooking demos:
6 p.m. Thursday, November 1. Chef Seth Freedman of Forage and Flame. East Atlanta Village Farmer’s Market, Atlanta. www.farmeav.com
9:30 a.m. Saturday, November 3. Chef Tyler Williams from Abattoir working with sweet potatoes. Morningside Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.morningsidemarket.com
10 a.m. Saturday, November 3. Chef Kevin Gillespie. Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
11:30 a.m. Sunday, November 4. Author Sheri Castle. Grant Park Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.grantparkmarket.org
For sale
Vegetables, fruit and nuts: African squash, apples, arugula, Asian greens, beets, broccoli, broccoli raab, butternut squash, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, chestnuts, collards, dandelion, eggplant, escarole, field peas, frisee, garlic, ginger, green beans, herbs, kale, komatsuna, lettuce, mushrooms, mustard greens, okra, onions, pea shoots, peppers, persimmons, popcorn, potatoes, radishes, sorrel, spaghetti squash, spinach, sweet potato greens, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turmeric, turnips and turnip greens, winter squash, yellow squash, zucchini
From local reports
Flatbread with Arugula and Poached Eggs
Hands on: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
1 (16-ounce) package refrigerated pizza dough
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shaved Romano or Parmesan cheese, divided
4 large eggs
1/4 pound baby arugula
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 400°. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly grease 4 cups of a muffin tin.
Divide pizza dough in quarters. Roll each quarter into an 8-inch round and arrange two on each prepared baking sheet. Bake 5 minutes and remove from oven. If dough has puffed, pierce bubbles with tip of a knife.
While dough is in oven, in a small bowl, mix together ricotta and 1/4 cup shaved cheese. Bring 1 cup water to a boil.
When pans come out of the oven, divide ricotta mixture evenly between dough rounds and spread evenly. Return pan to oven and bake 5 minutes or until edges of flatbread are crisp.
When dough returns to oven for second baking, divide boiling water evenly between prepared cups of muffin tin. Break one egg into each cup. Put muffin tin in oven and bake 7 minutes for a runny yolk. If you prefer your egg yolks to be cooked through, continue cooking for up to 3 more minutes. Carefully remove tin from oven and leave eggs in tin until ready to serve. Remember that they will continue to cook gently until removed from hot water.
When flatbread and eggs are ready, combine arugula, remaining 1/4 cup cheese, olive oil, lemon juice and zest. Toss together and season to taste. Top flatbreads with arugula mixture. Remove eggs from muffin tins, drain on dish towel and arrange on top of arugula. Sprinkle with pepper and serve immediately.
Adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light magazine, September 2011.
Per serving: 506 calories (percent of calories from fat, 34), 24 grams protein, 57 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 19 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 233 milligrams cholesterol, 1,048 milligrams sodium.
