Native Species on Your Table Cooking with NM delicacies looking to add to this recipe. Instead, look The New Mexican landscape may in your own garden- you may be surprised not seem like a place of bounty at first to find that a lot of what you’ve been pullglance; we often think of cactus-studded ing is ready to go on your plate! deserts, where rattlesnakes slither and roadrunners race across arid land. Even in the river valleys and forested mountain rang- Zesty Purslane Salad es, New Mexico isn’t often characterized as lush and fruitful. But the high desert has Ingredients: a lot to offer, especially if you’re willing to Large bunch of purslane- washed look for it. Here are some recipes featuring 1 can garbanzo beans- drained and rinsed native species found in New Mexico in the 1 watermelon radish- thinly sliced spring and summer. ½ red onion- thinly sliced 1 cup feta cheese- crumbled 1 cucumber- peeled and cubed small Purslane/Verdolaga (Portulaca oleracea) is For dressing: a tasty little crawling plant, with a lemony ¼ cup olive oil sweet crunchy texture, that is commonly ½ lemon juiced known as a weed in the Southwest. A pow- 1 clove garlic minced erhouse in both its growing capabilities and Salt and pepper to taste nutritional value, purslane is either a noxious weed or a delightful addition to your Directions: salad, depending on who you ask. An excel- Chop the purslane and toss all salad ingrelent source of Vitamins A, C and E as well dients. In a separate bowl, combine lemon as high in iron, magnesium and a powerful juice, garlic, salt and pepper, whisk together antioxidant- we say “Let them eat Purslane!” as you slowly incorporate olive oil to emulPopping up in the spring, keep a lookout sify. Pour over, toss, and enjoy! for this tasty succulent green, that may grow where you least expect it! Remember: If you are going to forage for edible plants, Quelites/Lambsquarters/Goosefoot (Cheavoid city lots or alongside busy roads. The nopodium album) Depending on where pollution from cars and city-wide herbicide you are in the Americas, quelites could be a sprays are definitely not ingredients we are variety of plants. In Mexico, quelites could BY: OLIVIA MARIN
Purslane photo credit: Raw Edible Plants 14 News from Trek Country SPRING 2021
be any wild green, and the word itself is derived from Nahuatl, meaning “edible herb.” Purslane, amaranth and many others may be identified by the term. While oftentimes in a New Mexican restaurant, “quelites” brings you an order of cooked spinach, there is another abundant plant, a wild spinach, that gets the job done! Lambsquarters, also known as goosefoot, has been characterized as a persistent weed in the Southwest. It grows all over, with long woody stalks and soft leaves that often look like… a goose’s foot. This “weed” can provide ample shade and delicious greens, so if you see it in your yard or garden, perhaps give it a try! Garlicky Quelites con Frijoles (Lambsquarters and Pinto beans) Ingredients: Large bunch of quelites 4 cloves of garlic chopped 1 can of pinto beans- drained and rinsed 1 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tsp cumin ground Salt and pepper to taste 1 Tbsp olive oil Directions: De-stem quelites, these cook down so there is no need to chop the greens. However, if the plant is quite mature, the stalk can be
