Watercress, not in salads?

[Rosalind]

OK, not watercress exactly--garden cress. It was bolting, I had to pick a big bunch at once. So far, I've been taking a LOT of cress salads for bag lunches, cress-and-cheese sandwiches, and today I'm going to try adding it to vichyssoise.

There is more cress out there. By the time it is done, I will have exactly two weeks between the last of the cress and the start of head lettuce + nasturtiums. But as of this weekend, I am out of cress recipes.

At least it's got lots of vitamins.

 

[Sylvie]

If it has bite like watercress you can make cress mayonnaise:

1 bunch of cress
1/4 c mayo
2 tbsp grainy mustard (Do not substitute other mustards)
salt & pepper

Dip cress into boiling water till bright, chop.
Mix all and chill.
So fantastic over steamed broccoli or cauliflower, or on fish.

 

[Rosalind]

Oh good! Thank you Sylvie!

I have fish. Lotsa fish in the freezer, going fishing again this weekend, "goes with fish" is good.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi Rosalind

It's great in a lasagna! I make a lovely vegetarian one with grilled vegetables & what we call American Cress or Land Cress. I quickly blanch the cress before I chop it up a bit (that helps keep the colour as well as soften it a bit). Layer in the veg & cress layers with the bechemel sauce. I always put rather more cheese in this kind of lasagne than a meat one. Sometimes, if I have cooked a piece of ham or boiling bacon & have some leftovers I chop some of that up & add it to the vegetables. The lasagne freezes well.

The other thing make with the cress is to top large open mushrooms with chopped blanched cress & cream cheese. Chop up the mushroom stalks,blanched cress, fresh thyme & parsley & mix with cream cheese; pile this into large open mushrooms & either put them into the oven or grill. You can also chop a hot pepper onto it if you like it very hot. It's a really fast meal to fix after a day in the garden & it's great with crusty bread or if you are feeling really naughty fry a thick slice of bread in olive oil & put the mushrooms on top -- This is great if you are camping out in the wilds! Oh!-- memories.......!!!

Hope these help to use up your green glut! Have a great weekend :rainbow-sun


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

I love it on a very crusty sour doughbread with lots of Irish butter and fresh tomato slices ...really good in a sandwich!!! forget the lettuce use the cress!!!

 

[Rosalind]

Grilled cress-stuffed mushrooms, sounds like a perfect appetizer for Memorial Day this weekend! Excellent! Thank you!!!

Veggie lasagna, I think I have a similar recipe but involving spinach, but I will try substituting cress for some of the spinach. Any recipes that freeze well are awesome--we freeze a lot of stuff in single-serving portions here, great for unexpected long workdays.

HiDelight, do you bake your own sourdough? My sourdough culture croaked (maybe because I forgot about it for a couple of weeks...oops...), it will be a while before I can get a new starter going. Do you know of a quickie way to make sourdough starter?