For various reasons, MP has been flying solo to the Farmers’ Market and he’s rocking the green shopping; bringing home summer grill worthy cravings like shishito peppers and saucer shaped donut peaches; and now a curious, thickset green “weed” species, purslane.
When I realized it could grow fervently in the worst of situations, like a crack in the sidewalk, I was eager to taste it; grassy and fleshy leaves
stripped from a thick stem and spun dry become a lemony juicy nutrient dense carpet salad.
I leaned on Google and adapted a vibrant, sweet and acidic dressing to capitalize on bright red June cherries and round orange sweet as candy cherry tomatoes from our garden.
The dressing is a combination of lemon juice, aged sherry and balsamic vinegars.
I served it with a fat organic rotisserie chicken and crispy rendered country bread schmaltzy drip catcher croutons; so Ina.
(Rest assured, by the time the chicken was cooked through; the bread was crisp and blackened too; sans contamination).
Oh, to live on a country road, where gobs of purslane would be my latest obsession.
Ingredients
- 1 generous bunch purslane, thick stems cut away (3-4 cups)
- 16 cherries, pitted and halved
- 8-10 yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Small clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2-3 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (to taste)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
- 1-2 ounces feta cheese crumbled
Instructions
- Whisk the Dijon, garlic, vinegars and lemon juice together; add olive oil and whisk until dressing is emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Toss purslane with some of the dressing and place on a platter; repeat with tomatoes and cherries. Garnish the purslane with tomatoes cherries and feta.
- Serves 2-4 as a side dish.
- --adapted from Martha Rose Shulman, NYT Cooking

Ok that sounds and looks amazing!!