Cooking with EL CHAVO!

How to cook Verdolagas! (aka Purslane)

I suppose going out for another gigantic moon of greasy, bready Costco pizza is an option for tonight's dinner, but you've already done that, so-many-times. Don't you think maybe it's time to figure out how to feed yourself, with real food? Like with stuff from the food market instead? I do. So here goes another one of my crappy recipes, an easy and quick one that anyone can follow, and it turns out quite nicely as well.

I know more than a few people that claim they can't cook and act like it's okay to subsist on eating out. Well, it ain't. You need to get your act together and learn some basics in life, don't assume you'll always have that drive-thru available at all hours. Do you really want to pass the rest of your years subsisting on frozen dishes from Trader Joe's, just because it's easy? All those years of culinary and cultural history passed down thru so many relatives and you decide to squander it for some microwave delight, que lastima. And don't blame it on your mom for your lack of paying attention in the kitchen, I learned how to put some simple dishes together on my own, in my teens, cuz I was tired of having to eat more boiled Lengua when I'd already told my mom I was a good-for-nothing vegetarian. To show you that anyone can learn to cook something new, follow along as I prepare a simple meal with verdolagas (aka purslane) which I never tried until just a few weeks ago.

I've heard about verdolagas before and seen them often at the market, but since I knew nothing about them I always gave them a pass.

And when I hear the word verdolaga I can only think about the song above by the group P18.

But on a recent trip to Superior I saw a nice bunch available for around 79 cents and picked them up, time to figure out what these things are about. And wouldn't you know it, some days after cooking them I came to page 170 of In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan where he mentions verdolagas as one of the most nutritious plants on the planet! I guess I'll keep buying them. By the way, I highly recommend that book as it's very well written and informative about the eating part of our lives, that one necessity that so many nowadays consider an afterthought. Though it seems written mostly for middle class foodies, with it's sad refusal to consider the economics that lead poor folks to eat bad food, it still has more than enough substance to make it worthwhile. Here's his disheartening course of action:

"Not everyone can afford to eat high-quality food in America, and that is shameful; however, those of us who can, should."

While we let the verdolagas soak, lets get our sauce ready. Dump the 4 or 5 tomatillos, the chile serrano, the onion quarter, and a clove of garlic into a blender; add a bit of water to make the blending easier, and hit the power button! Yup, no need to cook these beforehand. Blend until you have a nice smooth liquid base.

Almost done! Time to start warming up some tortillas. I'm a fan of the locally made El Dorado "Gourmet Yellow Corn" ones, as they taste like real tortillas. I think they get the gourmet tag because the only ingredients are corn, water, and lime - nothing else! "Regular" tortillas have that and a whole bunch of weird unpronounceable preservatives and who knows what else. You know there's something wrong when gourmet means the simple version from hundreds of years ago.

Put some of your cooked greens into a warm tortilla and there you have it, a cheap and easy meal of tacos de verdolagas. How does it taste? It's a sort of cross between spinach, nopales, and green beans. It has an earthy flavor that makes your mouth recognize it as substantial food. But it also has a lightness that makes it taste like a delicacy. And when you break it down price-wise, this is a very affordable and healthy dish you can whip up in less than 20 minutes. 

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