09/17/2024
The Wonderful World of Watercress 🍃
I am happy to report that after the CDC named watercress the healthiest vegetable, I tried it and lived to tell the tale. It was actually super delicious and I’m thrilled I tried it. After much YouTube and TikTok research, here’s what I learned - you can eat watercress cooked or raw, you need to wash it before you eat it, and if you cook it you’ll need more than you think (kind of like cooking spinach).
Raw it has a spicy, peppery flavor that reminded me of radishes. Cooked, it tastes almost like cooked spinach but more fresh. It would be amazing to do raw watercress with something like salmon salad + avocado - something where the creaminess tones down the bite a little.
While I was cooking we were wrapping chunks of fresh mozzarella in the washed watercress leaves and it was 🔥. So that’s also an option.
To Prepare:
This brand had the roots still attached so I cut those off and rough chopped, then I tossed any yellow leaves. If you get watercress with super thick stems you can cut those off, but these were thin so I skipped it.
Next, I rinsed in a colander, placed in a bowl of cold water, and let it sit for 10 min. Then I dumped that water and added more cold water. I let it sit for another 10 min and dumped THAT water out. I don’t know if you *need* to clean watercress this way, but it came out pristine. So use your own discretion.
To cook, I kept it really simple and heated 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and sautéed the watercress. You’ll see it start to shrink down the way spinach does. When it was close to done I added 2 cloves of chopped garlic and a splash of soy sauce. Cook 1-2 min more and serve.
You could totally have this as a super-antioxidant side dish on the side of chicken/fish, or as your greens in a grain bowl, but we tossed it with noodles, tofu, cooked mushrooms, soy sauce, and sriracha. It was 🤤.
We found this particular brand at Sprouts for $3.49, but I also saw it at Whole Foods. I couldn’t find it at Wal Mart or Smiths, but let me know in the comments if you find it somewhere else so more people can try it!
As always, let me know what questions you have!
