BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Raedwulf
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 03:54 PM

"Coriander leaf does indeed taste like soap"

As it happens... Coriander is a peculiar beast. There is a proportion of the population (I am one) to whom it will always taste chemical. I discovered the stuff by accident. It was in a bag of bought salad. I bit into one mouthful, went "argh", and then took out individual leaves, comparing them with the piccies on the back of the bag till I found the culprit.

Later, reading the intro to a Jane Grigson cookbook devoted to fish, I discovered that it wasn't just me. A comment from the intro author said something to the effect of only Jane could casually give you nuggets of information such as blah..., etc..., Coriander..., blah...

If you google it, the wiki entry will you that it's a genetic thing - the chemical flavour is down to an enzyme in the saliva. It's not a matter of "getting used to it". If that's you, it's always going to taste chemical (I can't say I've made a habit of eating soap, but I've never thought of it as tasting that way. It's just... chemical... and thoroughly unpleasant). The daft thing is that ground coriander, made from the seeds, doesn't contain any of the chemicals that react so badly. You can enjoy ground coriander (I do), but coriander LEAF is utterly uneatable!

As for rocket I like it. Rubbish it may be, if not to your palate, but I fail to see how it can be described as tasteless, unless all of your taste buds are dead! As someone has said, the younger leaves are nicer than the older, larger ones. A note of caution on growing it. Yes, it's easy to grow. Too easy. It can assume weed proportions if you're not careful, as it's quite prolific.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: bubblyrat
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 02:28 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 05:06 PM

You're welcome! She also does an amazing (and ridiculously simple) pasta sauce with crab meat, garlic, lemon and chilli that became one of my favourite summer dishes last year - I even made some in advance and brought it to Sidmouth. Though, as it's not got any rocket in it, I can't post it on this thread! :D

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Rowan
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 05:00 PM

Janie, here's Nigella's rocket pesto recipe:

Ta muchly, Ruth.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: olddude
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 03:49 PM

Janie
ya got me with the pine nuts, love them in a salad. OK I will give it a try

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 03:07 PM

I despise rape noxious fumes and pollen. When it is in peak flower I have such headaches.

I wonder if the over growing of it has contributed to bee colony collapse.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: theleveller
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 03:03 PM

You need to go to some decent restaurants, Boko, where they know how to do a good salad dressing. Or, of course, learn how to do it yourself - there's a whole new culinary experience awaiting you away from the meat and two veg.

"What - Croydon IS one of the culinary centres of the world?! "

LOL - a place totally devoid of any culinary or cultural merit.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 01:32 PM

"As usual Leveller is talking absolute bollocks."

What - Croydon IS one of the culinary centres of the world?!

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 01:28 PM

I've noticed that the organic rocket you can buy in the supermarket has a markedly stronger flavour.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 01:13 PM

Cooled cooked vegetables would be the only enjoyable salad for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 12:38 PM

arugula is Italian, too. That's what my nan always called it.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Janie
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 12:30 PM

Thanks for posting the recipe, Ruth. Sounds unique and scrumptious. I'll definitely be trying it out!

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 11:33 AM

Croyden(on) isn't one of the culinary centre(s) of the world

As usual Leveller is talking absolute bollocks.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: theleveller
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 08:23 AM

Oh, and I get my own back on weeds by eating them - chickweed is especially delicious and contains trace elements you don't find in any other vegetable.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: theleveller
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 08:21 AM

"Anybody used rape flowers in salad?"

Must try that - there's acres of the stuff grown around us. I do, however, use a locally produced coldpressed organic rapeseed oil in the dressing. It's Britain's answer to olive oil - wonderful!

Oh, and I grow perpetual spinach as well. Yummmmmmmm!

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 08:08 AM

Aha! "Arúgula (Spanish)"

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 08:05 AM

Rocket, love it too! Easy peasy to grow as others have said. Though some flavours are challenging for folk, I wouldn't call it 'bland' by any means. Nutty and peppery. The wee flowers are nice too added to a salad. I also like to grow 'perpetual spinach' (spinach beet) which is just as easy peasy: cut and come again greens for cooking or salad. Bit less teeth gratey (shudder) than spinach proper though. Anybody used rape flowers in salad? Always nibble it when walking - nice spicy sharp taste.

By the way, what language is 'arugula' from?

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: theleveller
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 07:50 AM

Mmmmm rocket - lovely! I grow two kinds: wild and 'tame', plus lots of other different salad leaves. As Spleen Cringe said, it's one of the easiest salads to grow; in fact it self-seeds if allowed to. Hardly surprising bonzo/boko doesn't like it - Croyden isn't one of the culinary centre of the world.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Mr Happy
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 07:30 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_(vegetable)


Lots commercially grown stuff's pretty 'orrible.

I've had home grown Rocket - lovely!

Wiki above says its an Afro-dizziac,



I'm up for that!!

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 05:37 AM

Mmmm! Nigella!

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 04:36 AM

Janie, here's Nigella's rocket pesto recipe:

50g rocket leaves
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
30g pine nuts
3 anchovy fillets
25g freshly grated parmesan or pecorino
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp ricotta (I have made it without this and it still works - the flavour is more intense)

put everything into the food processor except the ricotta and the olive oil. Blitz to a rough puree, and then, with the motor still running, drizzle the oil down the funnel into the puree until you have, as she says, "a felty green emulsion". stir it all together, add the ricotta and give it one more blitz. Stir through hot pasta.

I have also made this with an olive oil that's been infused with lemon oil, which worked really well (you could add some lemon zest as an alternative).

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Folkiedave
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 04:21 AM

Sowing spring greens? Through the snow? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Janie
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 11:39 PM

Thanks Ruth. It is getting close to time to start sowing spring greens. I usually just have arugula in the salad mix seed packets that I buy. I think this year I'll sow some separately to be sure I have enough to try your recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: GUEST,LTS on the sofa
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 02:59 PM

Here's a little tip for good rocket.

Buy one of the plants from the supermarket - Sainsburys and Tesco's both have living herbs for sale during the summer, and rocket is usually one of them.

Harvest some of the younger leaves but don't hurt the central shoot. Plant it in your garden and forget about it until next year, when it should have seeded itself across your garden. Somehow, this newly sprung rocket will taste infinitely better and more peppery than the original plant. Leave the central shoot alone and you should have rocket for several years to come, but it won't be in the same place every year. If you have a particularly windy summer, you may need to look in your neighbour's gardens.

I'm not a great fan of eating shrubbery and if I do have to have it, I like it like I like my men... fresh and undressed. Why grow all these different tasting leaves if you're only going to drown them in oil?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: olddude
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 02:56 PM

Wrote this one after the last "Green Thing I ate" LOL

If it's green in color don't eat it

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 02:38 PM

So, Gurney, the critters eat your greens? Here's something you might try: red lettuce.

When I grew lettuce, the sparrows devoured it all, except for the red. You could see them hunkered in the trees, eyeing the red lettuce and saying, "I dunno, Fred..."

Worth a try, anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Smedley
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 09:57 AM

When rocket first became fashionable in UK foodie circles (the 1980s??), some restaurants & shops called it 'roquette'. I guess this was to make it sound continental, but to me it always sounded like a salad leaf that wanted to be a drag queen.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Will Fly
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 09:53 AM

Rocket - uncooked spinach - uncooked cabbage - basil - coriander - all yummy! Dash of vinaigrette, black pepper - lovely!

All depends on proportion and individual taste...

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: melodeonboy
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 09:50 AM

"Of course one doesn't have this problem outside the UK."

Well, when I lived in the Sudan, it was common practice to provide rocket (or "jir-jir" as the Sudanese call it) as a side salad. It's used in a similar fashion in other parts of the Middle East as well, and is highly regarded.

Very nutritious with a lovely peppery after-taste!

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 09:37 AM

"I've never heard of 'rocket' as a food. We do have 'sweet rocket' which is a tall, self-perpetuating flower. Not related?"

Ebbie,

Both are members of the Brassicaceae, the cabbage and mustard family. Hence both are 'crucifers' (i.e. they both have four equal-sized petals which, taken together, form a cross shape).

Sweet Rocket is Hesperis matronalis whilst (salad) Rocket is Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria (subsp. sativa) depending on which book you consult. 'Rocket' is supposed to be just a corruption of the Latin name 'Eruca'.

Last year I found, near Manchester (UK), another crucifer called Perennial Rocket (Sisymbrium strictissimum). But look in any reasonably comprehensive British flora and you'll find Annual and Perennial Wall Rockets, London Rocket etc., etc. You just have to remember that common names for plants are not particularly scientifically accurate and the 'Rocket' name seems to have been applied to several plants which are more or less similar and broadly related.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Rowan
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 07:45 PM

Ruth,
Janie might know how to modify your basil pesto with some rocket but, what about the rest of us? We're hanging on every word.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 07:39 PM

Janie: pretty much. It also has a couple of anchovies in, which impart a depth and intensity of flavour (without fishiness). It's a doddle to make and really, really good. I'll dig the recipe out and post it here.

I also used to do a salsa verde that was really good with Mexican food. You basically take a big bunch of fresh parsley, a big bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro), a couple of cloves of garlic, a chopped-up bunch of spring onions (scallions), and the zest and juice of a lime. Give it a glug of olive oil. Whizz it all up in the food processor. Bit of salt and pepper. Fabulous.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: beeliner
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 07:29 PM

When I saw the thread title I thought it was a critique of a new group along the lines of Bloodhound Gang or Blink182.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Rowan
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 07:10 PM

I suspect one of the reasons for variation in taste-bud receptiveness (apart from the variations in quality of the rocket) is the variation in salt intake amongst us. Many years ago I decided to not add salt (sodium chloride, specifically) to my diet and just rely on the fact that it features in most foods and is relatively higher in things like cheese and salami.

I found that tomatoes were suddenly as tasteless as Iceberg lettuce; I'd previously always given tomato slices the merest smidgeon of salt. But I persisted with the diminution of salt in my diet and the flavour of tomatoes gradually came back; more dramatically with home-grown ones rather than supermarket ones, of course.

Given that the western diet is riddled with high levels of sugar and salt (sodium specifically) it might be that those of us with higher exposure to salt are (relatively) limited in our perceptions of "natural" flavours.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 06:55 PM

It's ok if you're a bunny - with a memory like that, every leaf is a new experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 06:53 PM

Who'd be a Bunny, eh?   I mean, WHEN did lettice get to be so confusin'?

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Janie
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 06:18 PM

I wonder if the dislike that some folks have for arugula comes from the experience of eating it once the leaves are large, or after the weather has heated up. (Where I live, a summer salad out of the garden is not going to have much of anything but tomatoes, green peppers and cukes in. (well, maybe some french sorrel or lambsquarters.) Cool weather crops are finished by mid to late May.)

Young arugula has a nutty as well as mildly peppery taste. The slightly sweet nuttiness disappears as the plant gets larger and bolts to flowers.

Ruth, I would love to try that arugula pesto recipe!   Is it the same as basil pesto, only with arugula?

On this side of the pond, we call the plant cilantro and the seeds corriander. I used to have a yummy recipe for a lime-cilantro vinaigrette that went particularly well with salads that included avocado and strips of jicama, or used as a chicken marinade for mexican dishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Gervase
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 04:53 PM

Order anything on a "bed of leaves" and it's a good bet that 95% your meal will consist of this tastless lettuce gone wrong - which is no doubt very good for profit margins!
Depends where you order it, really.
TBH any self-respecting restaurant will flag up the fact that the salad is rocket, rather than just lettuce, as rocket is more expensive and tastier than lettuce. Good rocket has a lovely peppery flavour that goes extremely well with steak. I grow masses of the stuff for summer salads. It's also pretty good stirred into macaroni cheese.
Iceberg lettuces, on the other hand, are pretty nearly tasteless - all the sensation is in the texture. If you want some flavour and variety, young spinach is a good salad veg, as are young beetroot leaves, dandelion leaves and chard shoots.
Order a generic 'salad' in most British eateries, however, and you'll get iceberg lettuce, a few rings of tasteless tomato and maybe some raw onion if you're lucky. I'm afraid as a nation the British know fuck-all about food and care even less. Most people are happy with a two-for-a-fiver battery chicken deal from the supermarket, oven chips and tinned or frozen veg. The popularity of cookery programmes seems to be in an inverse ratio to the viewers' ability or willingness to cook.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Mingulay
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 03:44 PM

If God had meant us to eat green food we would have ears that flop over our eyes and cute little white tails!! 'Nuff said.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 11:39 AM

it's avocado...

mixed up with right ingredients it is guacamole... yum.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 11:14 AM

I am not a natural rabbit (hmm, several meanings to that) but if I have to eat rabbit food then I like watercress, and spinach, and as a mixed leaf salad, spinach watercress and rocket. Coriander leaf does indeed taste like soap and I believe its old English name was "soapweed".

Any salad is improved by a mustard, olive oil, and vinegar dressing (maybe with some crushed chilis shaken in).

That dressing works well with avocados too. I'm not sure what "avocado" is in American.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 11:14 AM

Lunch today was seafood soup, swordfish and then I had dulce de leche ice cream - in Nerja, Spain. No sign of rocket anywhere!

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Boho
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 10:26 AM

Rocket by itself dressed with extra virgin olive oil and a dash of red wine vinegar and plenty of good salt and pepper, great. What they sell in packs called mixed leaves or mesclun might as well be grass cuttings.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 10:14 AM

Everyone's palates are so very unique. I cannot stand aubergine (egg plant) no matter how it is soaked or prepared, it always has a nasty bitter taste to me.

I didn't like rocket (arugala). until about a year ago it was too bitter for me. I love it now especially with baby spinach, strawberries and balsamic vinegar. Gorgeous.

I use loads of ice berg lettuce because I like lots of crunchy in my sarnies (sandwiches) and wraps and salads. Inexpensive way to fill up salad or sandwich.

Of late, I cannot eat coriander (cilantro) without getting a 3 day long soapy after taste. I used to love carrot and coriander soup. No more.

BTW... Digestive biscuits are not exactly like graham crackers. I would love to have some cinnamon graham crackers. Sigh! The things I miss being in the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: olddude
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 09:55 AM

if its green in color don't eat it. made that mistake with chicken once

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 09:42 AM

Even the slugs in my garden won't eat that shit.

Take a tip from Bugs Bunny, eat carrots.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 07 Feb 10 - 09:12 AM

Rocket is peppery and rather bitter. My daughter isn't a fan; I'm addicted to the stuff, especially when accompanying something slightly sweet like prawns or crayfish in a sandwich with lemon mayonnaise. Lovely in a salad with bacon, pomegranate and parmesan shavings with a bit of caesar dressing. Nigella Lawson does a very simple rocket pesto recipe in her A Taste of Summer cookbook that is absolutely fantastic. I made it once when we were holidaying with friends in Tuscany, and everyone loved it - I will never forget eating tagliatelle with rocket pesto out on the terrace of the villa with our friends, drinking cold Pinot Grigio, watching my daughter catching fireflies and listening to a nightingale singing. Magic.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Gurney
Date: 06 Feb 10 - 11:59 PM

The wild mallard ducks that have been coming into our garden since they were the size of bummblebees WON'T touch rocket. Lettuce, silverbeet/swiss chard, stripped to the ground, even water lily consumed, but not rocket.

Makes you think. These are creatures who will walk and even shit in their food and still eat it.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Janie
Date: 06 Feb 10 - 08:47 PM

I love arugula, but wouldn't want it as a solo green. But like VT, I like rabbit food. (As well as potatoes.) Trying to imagine a dish, however, where potatoes would substitute well for greens.

Subject: RE: BS: Rocket, tasteless rubbish
From: Rowan
Date: 06 Feb 10 - 08:43 PM

In Oz, "Iceberg" lettuce is the most commonly available lettuce in shops. To my tastebuds it's like eating textured water; pleasant enough much of the time but I don't miss it if I don't have it. Rocket here is spicy and a welcome addition to most salads or garnishes.

Cheers, Rowan