5 recipes for watercress

Spring watercress is tender and flavorful. Keep these recipes in mind when you grab a bunch or two from the farmers market.

Thu, May 24 2012 at 2:37 PM

Related Topics:

Healthy Eating, Recipes, Vegetarianism & Veganism

Photo: healthaliciousness/Flickr

I’ve had a recipe bookmarked for a year that called for watercress. I finally made it, and it turns out, neither my husband nor I liked the finished dish. But, I did like the watercress, and I have some leftover in the refrigerator. So I went digging for other recipes to use these greens that contain beneficial amounts of iron, calcium, folic acid and vitamins A and C.

Here are five recipes caught my attention:

Wilted Watercress with Garlic – Quick and easy (done in 15 minutes), this stovetop recipe is a nice change-of-pace side dish.
Goat Cheese and Watercress Tea Sandwiches – I associated watercress with tea sandwiches, and these little sandwiches can be made on cinnamon raisin bread. The sides of the sandwiches are coated with toasted pecans that stick to the goat cheese. Sounds delicious.
Zucchini and Watercress Soup – This soup screams, “summer!” The vegetables are sauteed with onion, and then pureed to make a silky soup. A touch of cream makes it rich.
Watercress with Watermelon and Feta – An unusual salad, the peppery watercress is combined with sweet watermelon and tossed with a dressing of olive oil and lemon.
Gnocchi with Tomatoes, Pancetta, and Wilted Watercress – I have everything I need to make this recipe in my refrigerator or pantry, so we may just have this for dinner tonight (subbing local, humanely raised bacon for the pancetta). Tomatoes and garlic are cooked with the pancetta, making a sauce for the gnocchi. This recipe looks like it takes less than 20 minutes to make.

Do you have a favorite recipe for watercress?

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