Rocket

Roquette

What it is

Rome grew it as an aphrodisiac and it was banned from monastery gardens for exactly that reason. The pepper is a mustard-family defence, and it grows sharper the drier and hotter the summer — a stressed plant is a fiercer one.

In the kitchen

Add it to hot pasta off the heat and let it wilt from the residual warmth. Cooked directly, the pepper vanishes entirely.

Goes with

Parmesan Olive oil Lemon Prosciutto di Parma Balsamic vinegar Pine nut Fig Tomato

Also used with

Blonde d’Aquitaine beef Chianina beef Stracchino (crescenza) Bresaola

In season alongside

Water pepper (tade / benitade) Green walnut Mustard greens Nasturtium capers Watercress Wild rocket

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