It’s been raining a lot here in NY, what else is new, but today is the perfect spring day. And yes, it’s still Spring until June 21st! Petrie, my little pitbull chihuahua, spent the day walking on the river with us and  looking out the skylight windows while daydreaming of squirrels in Union Square. A little HDR never hurt a backlit black dog.

I found some interesting things at the greenmarket today: Purslane and Garlic Scapes.  So I set about to make a salad.

Purslane is a strange thing.  The first and only other time I’ve had it was at Gjelina to go in Venice, CA.  Apparently it’s hard to find and it’s actually some kind of weed that has a high protein content, omega-3′s and lots of Vitamin A, C and E! I think that would make it some kind of superfood.  Anyway, I didn’t know any of that until I sat down to write this. So I guess that is just an added bonus because it’s pretty tasty.

Garlic scapes are all over the Greenmarket right now and I’ve never had them so I just grabbed two.  They are the tops of the garlic plant and they taste like, you guessed it, garlic.

Purslane Salad with Garlic Scape Yogurt Dressing

 Salad

3 cups purslane leaves (loosely packed)
2 cucumbers seeded and chopped
1 watermelon radish, julienned
1 scallion thinly sliced
Handful of Pita Chips

 Dressing (makes 2 cups)

2 garlic scapes
3 tbs lemon juice
1 cup Greek yogurt
salt & pepper to taste

Place garlic scapes (roughly chopped) and lemon juice in food processor.  Puree until smooth.  Add yogurt and puree a bit more.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove purslane leaves off the stem and rinse the leaves.  Seed and dice cucumbers. Place all salad ingredients in a bowl.  Just before serving, pour the garlic scape yogurt dressing on top.