MENU dorset issue 16 MENU16..dorset pdf issue 16 | Page 8

 P
Dorset
L E N T Y 
The Vital Ingredi ent:
W tercress
The original superfood is back in season, and, as Tom East discovers,
Dorset is one of the best places to buy it…
M
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any counties have signature ingredients - in Kent it’s
apples, Worcestershire is famous for its asparagus, while
Yorkshire is renowned for its rhubarb. In Dorset, Wiltshire
and Hampshire, there arguably isn’t a vegetable that’s
more celebrated than local watercress. This member of the mustard
family grows along the Dorset chalk belts, finding the perfect growing
conditions in the pure spring water from underground chalk aquifers.
While the rest of the country view it as a peppery leaf for salads, it’s
used everywhere in our region – it’s a botanical in Twisted Nose gin from
our neighbours in Hampshire, Purbeck Ice Cream’s Dorset Watercress
flavour won a Great Taste Award in 2013, and The Watercress Company,
based near Dorchester, have supplied Dorset County Hospital’s cancer
patients with daily watercress smoothies.
You see, The Watercress Company call the green, leafy plant, the
original superfood, and given that the Greeks and Romans swore by its
health-giving properties, it’s fully deserving of that tag. With high levels
of iron, calcium, vitamins A, C and E, it’s incredibly nutritious, and it
is, indeed, great in a smoothie made with spinach and a dash of grated
ginger. Sweetened by apple and pineapple juice, it’s not as pungent as
some of those worthy smoothies that are usually called something like ‘The
Green Machine’, but the pepperiness of the watercress comes through.
Most robust than rocket, watercress can stand up to strong flavours
and it also provides a crunchy freshness to dishes made with rich meats
or oily fish. The Earl of Sandwich is said to have stuffed watercress and
roast beef in between two slices of bread to make the first sarnie, and it’s
a combination that still works today (see recipe), especially when doused
in a blue cheese dressing. You can also bring a bit of Brockhill to Buenos
Aires by replacing the traditional coriander and parsley in chimichurri
sauce with watercress.
As for fish, try serving a piquant watercress sauce with salmon,
blitzing the leaves with crème fraîche, lemon juice and a smidgen of
horseradish sauce to pep it up further.
So, next time you’re buying a bag of rocket, consider watercress
instead. It may be the ugly, stalky relation of the peppery leaves family,
but it’s far more interesting.
Cress is More
Three things you should know about watercress…
Watercress perishes
The leaves should be a
quickly, make it last longer
vibrant green, but the
by storing it in water in
stalks are paler – avoid any
the fridge at home.
yellowing leaves.
Watercress grows in gravel
beds filled with spring
water in Dorset.
www.menu-dorset.co.uk
Rare beef salad with
watercress and a blue
cheese dressing
(Serves 2)
Ingredients
2 sirloin steaks (or leftover rare roast beef)
Olive oil (for brushing)
2 handfuls of watercress
6 radishes
2 spring onions
Half a cucumber
110g blue cheese
65ml sour cream,
65ml buttermilk
Juice of one lemon (2 tbsp)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
Method
1. First prepare and cook your steaks (unless you’re
using leftovers). Brush each steak with olive oil on
both sides and season with salt and pepper.
2. Get your pan nice and hot and cook your steak
for 90 seconds on each side (3 minutes in total). If
you like your steaks a bit more well done, cook them
for longer. Leave them to rest and cool.
3. Put handfuls of watercress in two bowls. Thinly
slice the spring onion and radishes and add them to
the salad.
4. Make the blue cheese dressing by crumbling
the cheese into a bowl and mixing it with the sour
cream. Then stir in the mayonnaise, buttermilk, and
lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Thinly slice your steak or leftover roast beef and
arrange on the watercress. Then spoon over some
dressing. About two to three desert spoons for
each serving should do it - you don’t want it to be
swimming in dressing as you won’t be able to taste
the beef or the watercress coming through. You’ll
have plenty of leftover dressing, which you can use
on a less fancy salad during the week.