Watercress and Mango Salad with Ginger Dressing

• This is one of many delicious salad ideas from Food and Wine magazine. Find the original link below.
• 
  
• TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN     SERVINGS: 8

• FAST
• HEALTHY
• MAKE-AHEAD
• VEGETARIAN

INGREDIENTS

1. 2 tablespoons canola oil
2. 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
3. 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4. 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
5. 1/2 teaspoon chili paste or Tabasco to taste
6. 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
7. Pinch of sugar
8. 1/2 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
9. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10. Salt and freshly ground pepper
11. 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
12. 1 scallion, thinly sliced
13. Three 6-ounce bunches of watercress, tough stems discarded
14. 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
15. 1 mango, cut into 1/2-inch dice
16. 1 Hass avocado, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1.  Heat the canola oil in a small skillet. Add the ginger and cook over moderate heat until just golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer the ginger to a small bowl and let cool. Stir in the lime juice, rice vinegar, chili paste, garlic, sugar and sesame oil. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cilantro and scallion.
2.  In a large bowl, toss the watercress and onion with the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Add the mango and avocado, toss gently and serve.

MAKE AHEAD

The dressing can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Stir in the cilantro and scallion just before serving.

http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/2015/04/28/7-best-watercress-salads

Gingered Watercress

This recipe originally came from Cooking Channel TV. You can find the link below.

Gingered Watercress

TOTAL TIME: 25 min

 

YIELD: 6 servings

LEVEL: Easy

INGREDIENTS

• 3 bunches B&Wwatercress, trimmed (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 knob fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Wash the cress and spin it dry. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute. Add the tomato and cook until it is paste like. Add the cress, and cook down, turning occasionally with tongs, until tender, about 10 minutes. Season and serve.

Calories: 78
Total Fat: 7 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 grams
Protein: 3 grams
Total carbohydrates: 3 grams
Sugar: 1 gram
Fiber: 1 grams
Cholesterol: 0 milligrams
Sodium: 146 milligrams

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/gingered-watercress.html

How to eat watercress

At watercress central (here), we think you can eat watercress any way you want to. Huffington Post, however, has some pretty great suggestions. Here's just one, but the link below takes you to the other fantastic ideas. It was hard to choose just one they all look so delicious:

Tomato, Watercress and Mozzarella Salad
Serves 4

1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 English cucumber
1 ball mozzarella, Claudio’s if possible
1 head watercress
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
vinaigrette (see below)

Halve the cherry tomatoes and place in large bowl. Remove stem and seeds from peppers and chop into small dice. Dice the cucumbers finely as well and add to bowl with the tomatoes. Cut the ball of mozzarella into large pieces and add to the bowl. Add the watercress and pine nuts to the bowl and toss lightly with the Basil-shallot vinaigrette.

Basil-Shallot Vinaigrette
Yield = ½ cup

4 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small bunch basil, finely chopped (1/4 cup)

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, shallots, mustard, sugar and salt. Let mixture macerate for 20 minutes. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly until emulsified. Add the basil, whisk, taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary. Set aside. The original recipe was provided by Alexandra's Kitchen: http://www.alexandracooks.com/2007/06/19/tomato-watercress-and-mozzarella-salad/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/09/watercress-recipes-soup-salad_n_3006513.html

Chilled watercress and lettuce velouté with oysters

If I'm honest I'll tell you I didn't know what a "velouté " was when I was posting this.
So, I looked it up, this is how Merriam-Webster defines it:

velouté

 

noun ve·lou·té \və-ˌlü-ˈtā\

Definition of VELOUTÉ

:  a soup or sauce made of chicken, veal, or fish stock and cream and thickened with butter and flour

The recipe I'm sharing today is from "Great British Chefs", you will find the link below. 

1

Place the oysters, flat-side up, in a steamer basket over a pan of boiling water. Cover and steam for 1 minute. The oysters should have opened. Carefully reserve the oyster juices in a cup

• 8 oysters, large and fresh

2

Remove the oysters from their shells and leave to cool. Then cut the lemongrass stalks into thin skewers and pierce an oyster on each. Chill until ready to serve

• 4 lemongrass sticks

3

Gently sauté the shredded lettuces with 2 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan for about 5 minutes, until softened but not coloured

• 1/3 iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 1/2 baby gem lettuce, shredded
• olive oil

4

Cut the stalks from the watercress and parsley and blanch for 1 minute. Add the watercress leaves and parsley leaves, then blanch for another 2 minutes

• 2 bunches of watercress
• 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley

5

Drain in a colander and plunge into a big bowl of iced water. Leave for 5 minutes, then drain, pressing down on the leaves to extract the water. Keep the liquor for blending and adjusting the texture of your velouté

6

Mix the lettuces and the wilted watercress and parsley in a blender with the reserved oyster juices and the butter. Blitz until smooth

• 1 knob of butter

7

Add seasoning to taste, then pour and rub the velouté through a fine sieve into a bowl. Chill until ready to serve

• sea salt
• pepper

8

Once ready to serve, heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the skewered oysters for a few seconds on each side to reheat and lightly colour

• olive oil

9

Pour the chilled velouté into 4 soup plates and serve with two oyster skewers balanced on the side. ENJOY!

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/watercress-veloute-recipe

Quick Watercress Salad

This recipe comes right from the website: http://watercress.com/watercressrecipes.aspx

What you'll need:
I bag of B&W Growers Watercress

For dressing:
1 tsp mixed peppercorn
1 tsp mustard seed (I only had mustard powder, a fine substitute)
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
mortar and pestle to mix dressing ingredients

Preparation
Freshen watercress in chilled water, about 10 minutes.
Use a mortar and pestle to mix and crush dressing ingredients together.
Drain, shake dry watercress. Add dressing. Toss. Serve.

This is so delicious I couldn't stop eating it out of the serving bowl. Serves 4, but I almost ate the whole thing.

Watercress farro salad with tart cherries

I found this beautiful recipe from "Love & Lemons"

http://www.loveandlemons.com/2015/04/06/watercress-farro-salad-tart-cherries/

Watercress and Dill Butter

A great topping for pasta, fish, chicken, vegetables, just about anything. Ingredients:

About 1/4 C watercress, 1/2 C butter, 2T dill

Chop and blend

Chill in refrigerator until firm.

Use all sorts of ways. I spread the watercress dill butter on naan.

Then added a tomato.

Then added brie. YUM. Enjoy.