Kitchenography: Rick Bayless's Purslane, Tomato, and Tomatillo Soup

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Rick Bayless's Purslane, Tomato, and Tomatillo Soup

For the last several years I've had a garden plot in the community garden at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, a place filled with thriving-looking garden plots full of big, strapping plants laid out in neat rows, the plots neatly bisected with little paths. There are tomato vines laden with tomatoes, leafy plants of chard and collards, big sprawling zucchini plants, and bean vines of startling vigour. There is not a weed to be seen in these garden plots.

My garden plot? Not so much. My rows aren't particularly straight, I have an over-large patch of mint which looks perpetually messy, and I have weeds. The only thing I can say in my defense about the weeds is that weeding becomes much more complicated when the purslane sprouts and all of a sudden I am weeding around the weeds.

Purslane, if you're not familiar with it, is the foremost known plant source of omega 3 fatty acids. It's a low growing, fleshy-leafed plant with a flavor that is mildly acidic and vaguely lemony. Raw, it has a pleasant crisp texture and makes a good addition to salads. Cooked, it is said to have a mucilaginous -- or to be less polite, slimy -- quality although this was not my experience with it in this soup at all.

Purslane is also among the most common of weeds -- walking around the city I see it almost daily growing from cracks in the sidewalk or in tree wells -- and if you have a garden there's a good chance you have purslane growing as a weed. In much of the world however, this is a cultivated and much loved vegetable. In this country, if you don't have it available to you as a weed, I understand it is sometimes sold in Mexican markets under the name verdolaga. In Baltimore it is sold at the farmers' market by the Gardener's Gourmet folks. There is also a cultivated variety which can be grown from seed.

Because purslane is currently my number one garden plot product, I'm on the lookout for ways to use it. This soup was a product of my garden plot (jalapenos and purslane), plus tomatoes from the farmers' market and tomatillos from the supermarket. As it cooked, I was questioning the wisdom of my decision to serve hot soup on a hot July day but the tartness of the tomatillos along with the slightly lemony flavor of the purslane actually makes this a refreshing soup for a hot day.

This recipe is adapted from Home Food: 44 Great American Chefs Cook 160 Recipes on Their Night Off a book published in 1995 to support Share our Strength, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood hunger in America.

Rick Bayless's Purslane, Tomato, and Tomatillo Soup

1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (or more) jalapeno peppers, deseeded and minced
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
10 oz (about 5 medium) tomatillos, husked, washed, roughly diced
3 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 large boiling potatoes (I used Yukon gold), peeled and diced
1 quart chicken stock
2 cups packed fresh purslane, chopped into 1-inch pieces (I use leaves, plus the thin stems at the top of the plants_
Salt
Cilantro for garnish

1. In a 3-quart stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook until they're softened. Add the tomatoes and tomatillos and cook until they are almost dry.

2. Add chicken stock, potatoes, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Simmer until the potato is tender.

3. Add the purslane. Simmer until tender. (Rick Bayless and I differ on how long that takes. He says six minutes, I cooked mine for half that amount of time.) Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Serve garnished with cilantro.

If you're looking for other purslane recipes, here's one for a salad of chickpeas, purslane, and arugula.

And from other food blogs:

Purslane cooked with rice and tomatoes

Purslane salad with yogurt

Purslane Kootu

Summer Salad with Melons, Cashews, and Purslane

Chicken and Purslane Sandwich with Tarragon Mayonnaise

July 10, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

mucilaginous... i love this word!

Posted by: pigtown*design | July 10, 2008 at 05:25 PM

I'd never tasted purslane before a friend got some in her CSA box several years ago. Now, of course, I see it in my own yard -- I'm sure it was always there, but I thought it was a weed. The soup looks lovely; I'm bookmarking!

Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | July 10, 2008 at 07:12 PM

I remember the first time I found purslane at the farmer's market in Oregon - I just ate it raw (it was wonderful), but I had no idea that you could cook it! Looks like a very tasty soup!

Posted by: michelle | July 11, 2008 at 09:44 PM

I'm so impressed that you made a meal out of stuff you grew. I kid myself into thinking I don't garden 'cause I live in the city, but the truth is, I don't have the patience. Though purslane sounds great and easy to grow. Maybe I'll give it a shot. (Who'm I' kidding?)

Posted by: Anne | July 14, 2008 at 05:13 PM

Thanks for the great use of purslane! I just love purslane and rarely find anyone cooking with it! It's such a fabulous green, but often forgotten.
This meal is totally satisfying! All I need is a nice loaf of bread with it! Mmmm....

Posted by: White On Rice Couple | July 14, 2008 at 08:19 PM

My fireplace garden has just yielded one tiny tomato and two tiny jalapenos, but hey, it's a start! I keep seeing purslane at the market but didn't know what to do with it. And thanks for the warning that despite purslane's mucilaginous (er, slimy) rep, it's not in this recipe.

Posted by: Lisa (Homesick Texan) | July 15, 2008 at 01:07 PM

This looks wonderful. They were selling pursulane at the farmers markets and i got some... might try this soup!

Posted by: Meg | July 17, 2008 at 11:13 AM

I love pursulane and I suspect it's just perfect with tomatillos. Great-looking soup!

Posted by: Ann | July 17, 2008 at 12:16 PM

Considering all the purslane I pull out of my garden as weeds, I'm amazed anyone actually sells it.

I've sauteed it (pictures here), but hadn't considered soup. Thanks for the recipe!

Posted by: Kitt | July 21, 2008 at 03:28 AM

This looks lovely. Purslane is also super good in a salad with beets, goat cheese, toasted walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice, and that red powdered middle eastern spice, the name of which I forget, but it tastes lemony?

We sometimes get purslane in the farm box, and I love it.

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