foraging for arugula

The beauty of living in an Italian city is that in mere minutes and a few kilometers, you can easily be out in the country. That's becauase there's a clear and distinct separation between towns, not like how they blur together in the states, where you have to rely on those "Now Entering" signs to figure out where you are. No, here you'll be driving in Barletta and then all of a sudden, you're in the country, with some stray sheep, olive groves and vineyards for miles. That is, until the next town starts.

That morning we had learned a new skill: how to forage for arugula. We armed ourselves with little knives and bags to hold our findings in and trekked to the sweet hills of the murgia near Andria. Where is the arugula, you ask? Simply locate the yellow flowers and there usually is arugula right near them, growing close to the ground. Snap the stems up from the ground and you’ve got arugula! 

This is chicory, used in the traditional dish, favetta, a puree of fava beans that’s so mouth-wateringly delicious, I can’t believe it’s considered “peasant food.”

That afternoon we ate our arugula with a splash of lemon juice, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. It was so good, spicy and just the right amount of bitter, that we all admitted to wanting to eat the whole bowl! Have you ever foraged?

P.S. Easy and delicious arugula recipe: Penne with Ricotta and Arugula