An Excess Of Arugula

August 18, 2013 10:03 PM

Due to some miscommunication, I am now the proud owner of three huge boxes of baby arugula. My typical tactic of making simple onion-and-Parmesan salads is feeble before this gross excess. I am looking for recipes that require great heaping handfuls of arugula. I'm a decent cook and I'll eat anything, but I don't particularly enjoy non-smoked, non-fried seafood. Labor intensive recipes are fine.
posted by The Whelk to Food & Drink (34 answers total)

Arugula pesto? Like, a quart or two of it? Will probably freeze well.
posted by supercres at 10:06 PM on August 18, 2013 [14 favorites]

You can use it as your green in green smoothies, if that's something you enjoy. I'd do one banana, one apple, one pear, juice from one lemon, two celery stalks, and about 10-12 oz. arugula, plus as much water as you want/need to get the texture you prefer, thrown in a blender until very smooth.

Even if you're not a huge green smoothie fan, it's worth noting that they're a fantastic hangover remedy.
posted by jaguar at 10:27 PM on August 18, 2013 [3 favorites]

I bet you can sub arugula in for part or all of the greens in this Sephardi Greens Pie.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:32 PM on August 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

you can now make the best baked eggs you've ever had.
posted by dizziest at 10:34 PM on August 18, 2013 [6 favorites]

I like eating arugula with pine nuts and polenta, and on top of pizza in any capacity. It's really yummy on a white pizza, though (ricotta, lemon/orange zest, onion, mozzarella, basil on the crust of your choice.)
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 10:39 PM on August 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Tamari roasted potatoes with arugula: Cube and roast about 2 lb new potatoes with some chopped onion in a dressing of equal parts olive oil and tamari, with pepper to taste. Don't skimp on the tamari. As soon as they come out of the oven, toss them with one big bunch of arugula and let it wilt. Then dress them with balsamic vinegar and some more olive oil.
posted by expialidocious at 10:45 PM on August 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

You can pretend baby arugula is spinach for most recipes. And thus, you can use it in any saag recipe. It's not going to taste exactly the same, of course, but it will use up tons of greens. Maybe it's time to make your own paneer?
posted by Mizu at 10:46 PM on August 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

pizza it is good on pizza you should put it on pizza
posted by en forme de poire at 10:50 PM on August 18, 2013 [8 favorites]

Baby arugula makes amazing salads, I'm addicted to it. I can't buy enough of it. I used to mix it in with other kinds of lettuce and/ or spinach for salads but not anymore, I just use it plain.

Buy fresh produce and get creative with your ingredients. One of my favorites is arugula, corn cut off the cob (not cooked), tomato, jalapeno, lime juice, salt, and a little bit of ranch dressing. But I've mixed in stuff like fresh dill, peaches, feta, croutons, red onion, chicken- whatever you have around, I promise you it's delicious with arugula.

I also think it's phenomenal on top of thin, crispy pizzas. Especially white pizzas- you know, no red sauce. Like grilled chicken and red onion or something, throw some arugula on top . . . amazing.

It's a unique flavor and in my case the more I ate it, the more I wanted. You might be addicted too once you get through your whole stash. I use it on everything, possibly to the point of weirdness. The other day I made myself, for breakfast, buttered sourdough toast with some baby arugula sprinkled over the top. (Do you really need to ask how it was? It was delicious. Of course.)

Also, I find myself often referring to this fantastic NYT article which I originally was introduced to here on the green: Recipes for 101 Simple Salads. A lot of them call for arugula, but in a lot of other ones I just substitute it in for something else. It's a great jumping-off point for salad creativity.
posted by GastrocNemesis at 11:04 PM on August 18, 2013 [3 favorites]

This is the opposite of time- and labor-intensive: Brown some good salted butter, then stir in many large handfuls of baby arugula (it will wilt down to nothing - take it off direct heat before it starts to wilt if you are squeamish about overwilted greens). Add hot fresh pasta or gnocchi into the brown butter/arugula (or the other way around depending on the size of your cookware). Season to taste and top with freshly grated reggiano or parmesan.
If you want to make this more elaborate, you can add flavors during the butter-browning: thinly sliced or minced garlic, finely diced onion, sage. You can also add any or all of the following at the tossing-together phase: halved grape or cherry tomatoes (you can wilt those too if you like), toasted pine nuts or hazelnut, torn fresh basil, more grated cheese, chopped kalamata olives (adjust seasoning to compensate for added salt), crushed red pepper, minced red onion, a little lemon juice or grated rind.
You can also do this with olive oil if you don't like browned butter, but that definitely calls for some aromatics to perk it up.
You can also do all this with full-grown arugula, but you'll need to pay more attention to the flavor balance: the nuts or cheese balance the peppery bitterness of older greens.
posted by gingerest at 11:22 PM on August 18, 2013 [14 favorites]

saute it with garlic! I will do this sometimes with extra salad greens (spinach or 'spring mix') that I can't eat fast enough. Greens reduce down by a lot. Or saute it and add an egg or two to get a sort of scrambled eggs or omelette or frittata (depending on how you style it).
posted by Lady Li at 12:03 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Do you liked cooked spinach? Cook it the same way.
posted by Good Brain at 12:22 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

I saute it up, maybe a little garlic and red pepper, after deglazing, red wine usually, in a pan that just fried up a pork chop or two. You can eat a lot of arugula this way, it really shrinks in the saute and I always wish I had more.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Sockpuppetry at 12:27 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seconding pesto. Here's a cracking rocket pesto recipe from the Crank's Bible.
posted by ZipRibbons at 1:00 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

You can add it to any boring green salad for flavor, especially if you're dressing with vinegar and sweet/fruity tastes.
posted by ipsative at 1:53 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

ooh, I'm jealous! I use arugula in pretty much everything, fresh or cooked, when I have it: pasta, salad, pizza, eggs dishes, risotto, sandwiches... if I don't put it in the dish, I serve the item on a bed of arugula (also known as "rocket" – useful for looking up UK recipes). But for your purposes here (using a lot of it), I'd recommend sauteed, soup (or this one that uses vegetable stock instead of chicken broth), and pesto (I like arugula and almond pesto), both of which you can freeze.

Arugula mayonnaise is heaven, and here's a nice summery shrimp-and-arugula recipe from Martha. This page has a number of not-so-common arugula recipes that all look totally yum. An extra summery, unusual salad that uses a lot of arugula: Arugula, Watermelon and Feta Salad.

I have a fondness for white beans with arugula in various forms. Here's a nice Lemony White Bean and Arugula Salad that uses lots of arugula.

Enjoy your bounty!
posted by taz at 2:48 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

While you're making the pesto (which I came in to recommend but see several others have already suggested) you should blend some up with some olive oil and salt. Awesome to spread on as a sandwich condiment.
posted by phunniemee at 4:50 AM on August 19, 2013

Thirding pesto, and you can freeze it.

I will also happily take a box off your hands.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:26 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

I know you're not supposed to question the premise of the poster on askme, but seriously, there's no such thing as too much arugula.
Best Breakfast Sandwich:
Wilt arugula in your favorite balsamic vinigrette salad dressing (newman's). Liberally spread on buttered toasted rye or english muffin. Perch a poached egg on top (with goat cheese crumbles and/or breakfast sausage optional in between).
posted by Cold Lurkey at 5:30 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

King of greens! Rocket is my default salad purchase. I'm really sorry, I can't say arugula without thinking about afflictions of the throat.

- Fry a big handful with a little oil, some garlic and chili, and a little basil. Then mix in some unsweetened ricotta, then blitz it for a few seconds with a food processor till it's smooth (maybe you'll need more oil, depending how much you have from the frying). Now you have a nice creamy pasta topping.

- Sometimes I serve it wilted for a few seconds with a squirt of lemon juice as a green side for steak. Supermarkets in Australia often bag it as a premix with baby spinach and kale, and that's a good combo if you find the flavour of rocket alone to be overpowering.

- My go-to salad: get a big scoop of rocket, some thin slices of Spanish (red/purple) onion, some cherry tomatoes cut into quarters or maybe some diced normal-sized ones, and some garlic infused olive oil.

- My 'party trick' salad: finely dice some pumpkin, roast it in the oven with a splatter of oil till it's nice and soft but not totally mushy. Make a nice, tangy vinegar-and-oil dressing and give it a moderate amount of seasoning with salt and pepper. Toss your cooled pumpkin cubes through a big handful of rocket leaves and dress with your dressing. Top it with some shaved Parmesan.

- You should totally try your onion and Parmesan salad anyway because it sounds like a winner.
posted by raena at 5:32 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

Wilt it like gingerest suggests and serve it as a bed for a pan-seared fillet of white fish or fistful of sea scallops (assuming pan-seared meets your definition of "fried").
posted by gauche at 5:32 AM on August 19, 2013

Arugula is my favorite! What a lucky mistake. But you don't have to eat it all now -- you can freeze arugula if you blanch it first.

Dip it in boiling water (with a touch of salt) for about 45 seconds, immediately chill (ice water helps), drain well, seal it up, et voila. It defrosts quickly, and then you can throw it into a pan with some olive oil and garlic and eat it alone or in/on anything because ARUGULA IS SO GOOD.
posted by houseofdanie at 5:42 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

pizza it is good on pizza you should put it on pizza

The pizza place where we used to live would do a "BLT Pizza" with prosciutto, fresh tomatoes, and lightly dressed arugula (put on after it comes out of the oven). I might have to make that soon . . . and you should, too.
posted by Betelgeuse at 7:18 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

In Milan, Veal Milanese is often served either on a bed of, or covered with lots of arugula, usually with cherry tomato halves. If you don't want to eat veal, you can make it with chicken instead.
posted by ubiquity at 7:26 AM on August 19, 2013

If you do not put enormous handfuls of this on slices of pizza you are a crazy person.
posted by nathancaswell at 7:42 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

Microwave fry it, for crispy delicious garnish, or cut up and air dehydrate on a screen, or in a dehydrator and use as you would any dried herb. Also microwave dehydrate small batches.

Pesto yes... and if you are really feel in bold and experimental, how about some arugula ice cream? (Substitute arugula for the basil or whatever..)
posted by snaparapans at 8:05 AM on August 19, 2013

Maybe you could substitute arugula for saag and make saag paneer.

* link
* saag
posted by goethean at 8:25 AM on August 19, 2013

Arugula is known as 'rocket' outwith the US, so try googling that. I just stick the stuff in sandwiches, so I can't help you.
posted by mippy at 8:49 AM on August 19, 2013

I often use it in fried rice. Once the rice is almost done, I just throw in an obscene amount and take a gleeful joy in the way it wilts in the pan before mixing it in well. The delicious carnage of watching a huge mountain of greens melt into a sea of carbs is almost better than the flavor of the dish itself.
posted by Diagonalize at 9:07 AM on August 19, 2013

I eat vast fields of arugula every morning for breakfast. I slice up and saute a bratwurst (or an Italian sausage or whatever) and sautee it, then add all the arugula the skillet will hold and cook it until it's wilted. Dump some sauerkraut on top, too.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:27 AM on August 19, 2013

I have made this grilled corn salad a couple of times recently and it is really good. You can try adding other stuff like avocado to it and could probably increase the arugula and it would still be good.
posted by TedW at 9:43 AM on August 19, 2013

Ina Garten's Lemon Fusilli with Arugula is a perfect summer pasta. Serve hot or cold.
posted by Elsie at 10:32 AM on August 19, 2013

Try my favorite quiche, it uses up quite a bit of arugula and is delicious, though not low cal:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Arugula-and-Bacon-Quiche-102151
posted by Gooberoo at 12:40 PM on August 19, 2013

Arugula spaghetti looks like fun (recipe here).. Also if you have a whipped cream dispenser and some N2O, you might try Arugula Espuma, an easy and tasty foam to serve on anything or anyone.. substitute Arugula for the Spinach in the recipe.
posted by snaparapans at 1:15 PM on August 19, 2013