Arugula and Zucchini Salad

We had corn risotto for dinner Sunday night.

Tomatoes and basil from our garden, organic corn from Finley Farms -- it was a great Sunday night meal. You can read the recipe here.

Risotto requires attention, but not as much as most recipes indicate. Besides stirring every few minutes and adding stock as necessary, it cooked itself while I prepared a salad.

Risotto is creamy and soft, and this particular one is sweet with corn and tomatoes, so I decided we needed a crunchy lively salad on the side. Arugula and zucchini with a little parmesan and olive oil made a great accompaniment.

This is another one of those incredibly simple recipes. The key is to use the right ingredients.

I bought young wild arugula from Kenter Family Farms. The tame arugula found in bags at the grocery store has barely more bite than spinach. Wild arugula is peppery. Young arugula has tender stems so the whole leaf is delicious and edible.

Finley Farms had tiny little zucchini -- 3 inches long and barely an inch in diameter. Sliced thin on my mandolin, they added a little crunch. Bigger zucchini would have needed to be salted, drained, then rinsed and dried, before being added to the salad.

For this simple recipe, it's worth hunting for the young wild arugula and baby zucchini.

Arugula and Zucchini Salad
1 1/2 oz arugula (2 large handfuls)
1 tsp olive oil, divided use
1 tbsp parmesan, divided use
5 oz zucchini

Wash and dry the arugula. Toss with 1/2 tsp olive oil and half the parmesan. Put on a platter.

Slice the zucchini thinly and place on the arugula. Drizzle with 1/2 tsp olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan.

Serves 2