Purslane–Peach Salad with Feta and Pickled Red Onions
Market Table, NYC
While you don’t want them crowding out your crops, wild plants can be as delicious as they are pervasive, and for citizens of the urban jungle, there’s something wonderful about feasting on foraged foods. Purslane, a summer succulent with crunchy, pink stems and fat, juicy leaves, has gotten so popular that some farmers now actually order seeds and plant the widely prized “weed.” If you can’t find purslane, this salad is also wonderful with another wild edible: watercress.
Adapted from The New Greenmarket Cookbook (Da Capo, 2014)
Ingredients
- 1 small red onion, shaved into thin rounds
- Sea salt to taste
- 1⁄4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 1⁄4 cup diced bread, cut into 1⁄4-inch cubes
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 8 ounces roughly chopped purslane
- 2 large peaches, sliced
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped herbs, such as dill, tarragon, chives, chervil, and parsley
- 4 ounces crumbled feta
Method
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Make the pickled onions: in a small bowl, combine the shaved red onion, a pinch of sea salt, and the vinegar. Let the mixture marinate for at least 1 hour. Once pickled, the onions will turn pink.
Make the croutons: toss the cubed bread with 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Place the cubes on a sheet pan and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes.
Assemble the salad: transfer the pickled onions to a medium-sized serving bowl, reserving the pickling vinegar. While whisking, slowly drizzle the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil into the vinegar to make the vinaigrette. Add the purslane, peaches, chopped herbs, and feta to the serving bowl. Dress the salad with the vinaigrette, season it with salt and pepper to taste, and toss it lightly. Top the salad with the croutons and serve.
Yield
4 servings
