Fried Purslane !

One of the most prolific weeds in our garden is Purslane (Portulaca oleracea). It propagates readily and a good amount of our weeding effort is dedicated to Purslane.

But maybe we need to look at purslane differently? Check out this blog posting by Ashley from Lethbridge on Fried Purslane.
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2010/edible-weeds-fried-purslane-with-off-the-hooks/

Ashley's recipe

Fried Purslane
Serves 2

2 cups (500 ml) fresh purslane leaves (and stems, if young), washed
2 Tbsp (30ml) butter or olive oil
1/4 cup (50ml) dry white wine
2 Tbsp (30ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste

Bring water to a boil, add purslane, reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 min. Drain.

Melt butter or oil in a heavy skillet. Add blanched purslane, wine, and lemon juice — cook until liquid reduces slightly. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, grate fresh parmesan cheese on each serving.

Serve hot and enjoy!


And here's a recipe for Purslane Salad from Amy Chaplin.

Late spring purslane salad with flax chive dressing

5 baby turnips, cut in ¼’s
5 radishes, cut in ¼’s
5 baby carrots, cut in half lengthways
10 sugar snap peas, trimmed
2 large handfuls purslane

Dressing
2 tablespoons flax oil
Juice of half a lemon
½ teaspoon tamari or shoyu, or more to taste
Black pepper
6 chives chopped

Place turnips and radishes in the basket of a steamer and steam 2 minutes. Add sugar snaps and steam 1 minute more. Remove from heat and spread out on a platter to cool.

http://www.coconutandquinoa.com/2010/06/12/purslane-salad-with-flax-chive-dressing/

Heat units!

The garden is beginning to flourish. On Thursday, 13 volunteers met to weed the garden, thin carrots and seed lettuce.

On Friday, the first produce was harvested! Lettuce and spinach were delivered the the Interfaith Food Bank.

What we learned? Water the lettuce well before harvesting, harvest when it is as cool as possible or have water in the harvest tub to keep the lettuce from wilting. The gourmet mix proved to be hardier after harvest than the other lettuces (Grand Rapids).

Seeding and weeding

On June 9, the Lettuce and Spinach team seeded more lettuce and spinach.

And hoed up weeds.

Shannan had a few plants left over from her home garden so these were planted as experimental crops.
Leeks, parsley, rosemary, basil and cantalope.

More lettuce & spinach

The Lettuce Team is planning on seeding more lettuce and spinach Wednesday, June 9 after work. They'll also do some weeding. If you wish to help, meet at the Garden between 4 and 4:30pm.