Into the Wild

As promised, here's what went down with that last batch of market goodies:

• The white raspberries, as humdrum as it sounds, were just eaten straight from the carton.  They were too precious and sweet that I couldn't make myself do anything else with them.  Everything you've ever wanted in a raspberry, just a bit tart, juicy, sweet and pleasantly crunchy with seeds you got with these.  It was actually the vendor's first week at the market, and I'm so glad they're staying for a bit.

• D made some terrific baba ganoush with the globe eggplants.  Not a hint of bitterness and the right amount of smokiness; hooray for super fresh produce!  Since we both have so much free time this summer, he's made it a mission to get more comfortable in the kitchen and start cooking.  So far there has been salsa and this eggplant dip - I call it his blender series.

• The yellow nectarines, well, one of them anyway, were sliced and slipped into the fancy pants grilled cheese sandwich you see above of reserve cheddar, nectarine and wild arugula on sourdough.  Yeah, it was really that good.  And since I'm sure most of you don't need a recipe here's the how to: Lightly butter your bread and layer nectarine, cheese then a handful of arugula and cook (preferably in a cast iron skillet) over medium heat until each side is deep golden brown, on my stove that's 2.5 minutes per side.  Although, I might suggest cooking the grilled cheese without the greens and adding them just as you take it off the heat.  The melty cheese should wilt the arugula once you close it back up.

• And finally, the real star of my haul, the wild arugula.  If you like spicy salad greens, then you'll love this stuff, it's nothing like any arugula you find in the store.  The small finger sized lacy edged leaves are tender and pack a spicy punch.  Perfect to add to summer salads with stone fruits and toasted nuts, or as is my case, to put atop a rice cake with avocado and sriracha.  Ever since running across this snack idea from Gabi over at Honest Fare I've been smitten; eating it for lunch nearly every day for the past month or more.  For a while I was making it with baby spinach, which was great, obviously, because I ate it like that for three straight weeks, but after making the wild arugula discovery, I am a convert.  The arugula stands up better to the lip burning heat of sriracha and just brings a little something extra to the whole thing.  Also, it was pretty dang good on that grilled cheese.

Rice Cake Snack

If you can find them, I like Lundberg's Sesame Tamari brown rice cakes for these.  Don't worry they're not too salty or even that flavored with the tamari, they're just a little bit more nutty flavored.  I listed Haas avocado in the recipe, because that's the kind you'll find most anywhere, but lately I've been using Reed avocados to much success.

1 rice cake
1/4 of a medium Haas avocado
Sriracha, as desired
1 small handful of wild arugula, chopped

Smear the avocado on the rice cake, then drizzle with as much or as little sriracha as you'd like and top with arugula.  Say hello to your new favorite snack.