Purslane aka Pigweed Salad

Purslane aka pigweed is an edible weed. At least here in the U.S. we call it a weed since it seems to appear full grown over night in your garden beds. Sadly I was ignorant of its edible potential while it covered my garden in Minnesota like a spiderweb. Now I buy it at the farmers' market, oh the irony!

It is a succulent which gives it a more juicy bite than other greens. It has a slight lemony taste which explains why it pairs well with typical Mediterranean ingredients. Upon searching the web I came across the following description on a comment on Simply Recipes left by Peter of Kalofagas:

"In the southeastern part of Turkey where purslane salads are very common, they use pomegranate syrup (molasses) to season this kind of salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. Delicious"

Since pomegranate molasses is one of my favorite exotic ingredients I couldn't resist. Adding in red onions and red bell peppers made it even more colorful and fun.

I could have easily added some feta or olives to create a more substantial salad, but resisted so that the purslane wasn't overpowered by two many other dominant flavors.

Purslane Salad

2 cups purslane (1-2 bunches, destemmed, but tender tips are fine to include)
2 tomatoes, diced (or 10-12 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved)
1/2 persian cucumber, cut in half and cut in 1/2 inch slices
1/2 small red onion, cut in half moon slices
1/4 red bell pepper, julienned
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (available in Middle Eastern Markets or DYI recipe here)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced

Combine all veggies in large mixing bowl. Drizzle pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice over all. Season with salt and pepper and toss well and serve.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:


Creamy Bacon Dressing and Greens at Nutmeg Nanny
Mint Limeade at Bitchin' Camero
Tarte Flambe at Kitchen Illiterate