Purslane and Peach Salad

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you know my parents' had what I considered a massive garden when I was growing up (and they still do---just with some flowers and raspberry bushes thrown in now). One summer, I remember that we were required to work in the garden an hour every day. Most of this was spent picking off potato beetles to later drown in motor oil or pulling weeds. I spent a lot of time pulling this weed. Little did I know that some 20 years later I would be paying money to buy purslane, the weed I spent hours trying to rid my parents' garden of.

Purslane is really healthy for you from what I understand--healthier than spinach, in fact. It's high in Omega-3's. Plus, it's completely free if you have a garden to weed (just goggle it first to make sure you are in fact planning on eating purslane and not something else). I made a simple salad of ours. I saw lots of more elaborate recipes--eating purslane is more common in other cultures. I didn't feel like elaborate though and made the simplest recipe I could find that looked good: Purslane and Peach Salad.

Curtis loved it. J ate some of it (he is actually eating salads now, glory be!!). M and little I didn't, but they aren't salad eaters yet (I still have hope). Curtis loved the texture of the leaves and it wasn't too bitter (like summer arugula often is).

I found this recipe off of seriouseats.com. It's not so much of a recipe as just a few things thrown together. Perfect for a side salad that presents wonderfully and requires minimal work.

Purslane and Peach Salad
from seriouseats.com

purslane
a peach (or two, depending on how much purslane you have), sliced or cut into chunks
one small red onion, thinly sliced.

Combine all ingredients. If you are using a particularly juicy peach, you won't need any dressing. Otherwise toss very lightly with good extra virgin olive oil or grapefruit balsamic vinegar (if you can find it).