In periods of intense heat, cold dishes, especially those that do not require cooking, are a godsend, and among these, salads made from vegetables and/or wild herbs reign supreme. Today we are discussing this typically summer salad, whose main ingredients are purslane and arugula, to which we can add anything we want to make it richer and tastier according to our tastes. They are ideal as a side dish if you want to eat light, also to better withstand the heat, while at the same time filling up on water, minerals, vitamins, fiber, and so on.

Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: No cooking
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Summer

Ingredients

5 oz arugula
to taste purslane
15 salad tomatoes
2 cucumbers
to taste pickled onions
10 friggitelli peppers
to taste extra virgin olive oil
to taste fine salt
1 lemon (or 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar)

Steps

My edible purslane, the one I use to make a delicious frittata or this fresh salad, grows spontaneously in my pots every year starting in spring. I don’t know how it got there; maybe thanks to the wind, a bird, or a bee. The seeds in packets can be purchased from specialized stores, or on Amazon; alternatively, if a neighbor or acquaintance has a plant, you only need a whole stalk with leaves. Purslane is rich in tiny black seeds (as seen in the picture below) that just need to be spread on the soil and then covered with a little earth, watered gently all year round, and you’ll also have your purslane in a pot or in the ground.

Let’s move on to our fresh seasonal salad: wash all the vegetables we’ll use and remove all parts that are not edible (such as the stems and white seeds of the friggitelli peppers) or damaged.

After washing the tomatoes (I also added some yellow cherry tomatoes, which have a sweeter taste and, in my opinion, go really well in this salad), cut them into 4 or more parts, depending on the size, and put them in the bowl where we will compose the salad.

Also add all the other vegetables, diced, chopped, or thinly sliced, depending on the type of vegetable, the time available, or personal taste, and season them only at the moment of serving the salad (or not too long before because the salt and oil tend to “cook” the vegetables).

Both purslane and arugula pair well with the acidity of lemon or vinegar; personally, I prefer balsamic vinegar.

If you use lemon juice, finely grate some of the zest and add it to the summer salad of arugula and purslane.

If you like yellow cherry tomatoes and Neapolitan friggitelli, check out these simple but tasty recipes:

Farfalle with buffalo ricotta and yellow cherry tomatoes

Spaghetti with yellow cherry tomatoes

Fusilli with friggitelli peppers

Friggitelli with Neapolitan-style tomato

Bon appetit