Ready to try watercress – the super-est (but least practical) superfood? It’s the CDC‘s #1 PFV (Powerhouse Fruit & Vegetables). Despite my shock at its ranking, initial balking, and further obstacles in getting familiar with this impractical and un-versatile superfood, I do have 2 applications to recommend. You can click over to Watercress: Super-est (but least practical) Superfood to read about the journey and more about PFVs. 
It took some doing, but I tried and found two recipes I actually fully enjoyed, and might make again if I see cress on sale – A salad with watercress, grilled sweet potato (yum!!), grilled pork chop, and orange honey vinaigrette; and a potato salad with creamy yogurt and wilted watercress dressing.
The potato salad was inspired by a recipe for Watercress Sauce with Thick Yogurt found in Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom, with Over 300 Deliciously Simple Recipes. The cress gets blanched for this recipe, and it really amounts to nothing once blanched and chopped into the salad. On the upside, blanching really mellows out the peppery flavor.
Ingredients
- 4 oz water or upland cress
- 1/4-1/2 cup finely diced red onion
- 3/4 cup thick plain yogurt (greek, or pressed regular plain yogurt)
- 2 Tbl mayo or sour cream
- 2 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1-2 tsp dijon mustard
- 5 red-skinned potatoes
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil or microwave the potatoes until they can be easily pierced with a fork or knife, 5-15 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. Drain and let cool. Cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- Blanch the cress for 5 seconds only - if you are boiling the potatoes it is easy enough to just blanch the cress in the potato water, either before, during, or after they are being boiled. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Pat and squeeze dry in a kitchen towel to remove excess water. Chop the cress finely, it's ok to use the stems - keep chopping down until it is just stem, no leaves.
- Make the sauce - combine the cress, yogurt, and all other ingredients. Then add the cut potatoes and stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- You can cover and refrigerate to serve cold, or it is very pleasant warm or at room temperature immediately after making.
Another watercress idea would be to add it to turkey or roast beef sandwiches, which can sometimes be bland and could use some strategic pepper if you ask me. However, not being a turkey sandwich eater…I haven’t tried this, nor have I been able to convince my turkey-sandwich-eating husband to do so.
Maybe it could be made into a sauce for steak? That’s another place that the peppery flavor would be a good complement. There are recipes for watercress sauce to go with salmon, I haven’t cooked steak in years…so it’s another idea I haven’t tried myself. Martha’s Slow-Roasted Salmon with Green Sauce or chef Jill Hough’s Pan-Seared Salmon with Upland Cress Creme Fraiche would be a good place to start, though.
So tell me…what would, will, or do YOU do with watercress?
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