Spending the day with Watercress

On my quest to add more green, leafy vegetables into our daily diet, I have found myself buying too many greens at a time and then struggling to use them all before they go bad. So, I have decided to focus on just a few leafy vegetables each week and building daily menu/recipes around just a few of them so I don't end up with too much in my produce drawer. On Saturday I focused on watercress. Watercress is a fairly pungent cruciferous green that has a peppery taste, though not as strong as arugula. It is also amazingly nutritious, with almost three times the calcium than spinach! I used two recipes out of the book, "Greens Glorious Greens!" by Johnna Albi & Catherine Walthers. This is a fantastic book with many delicious recipes all broken down in sections by each green. I made Scrambled Eggs & Watercress for breakfast and Kristen's Wilted Watercress Salad with Shiitake Mushrooms for dinner, which I paired with a delicious Bulgur and Flax Pilaf. I found it interesting that both recipes had carrots, even with the eggs! I wasn't too sure how it would be, but was pleasantly surprised it was delicious! Here's one of the recipes:

Kristen's Wilted Watercress Salad with Shiitake Mushrooms

4 cups Watercress
1 carrot
1 T canola oil
2 t freshly grated ginger
2 to 3 cups thinly sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms (@ 1/2 lb), stems removed
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 t tamari
3 T water
1 T maple syrup
1 T plus 2 t brown rice vinegar
toasted sesame seeds to garnish (I used Gomasio)

Strip watercress leaves from stems and wash in cool water, then spin dry. Chop slightly, but leave mostly whole leaves. Peel carrot and slice on sharp angle in think ovals, then slice into tiny matchsticks. Place watercress & carrots in large serving bowl.

Heat canola oil in a large skillet over high heat. Saute ginger and mushrooms for 4 to 5 minutes. Some bits might stick to pan. Stir in scallions and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from pan and set aside.
To deglaze pan, add sesame oil, tamari, water, maple syrup and brown rice vinegar. Cook together with ginger/scallions/mushrooms for 1 minute over low heat
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Pour hot dressing over watercress and carrot mixture. Toss gently and garnish with sesame seeds.