Culinary Explorer
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Arugula with Shaved Pecorino and Lemon
Created by Chef Ally
Peppery arugula leaves tossed in nothing but fresh lemon and good olive oil, showered with curls of aged pecorino. A salad that proves the best cooking is knowing when to get out of the way.
Start with the arugula. It should be so fresh it practically squeaks, with leaves that stand upright and a peppery bite that tingles on your tongue. This is a salad where the ingredient is everything and technique is almost nothing.
In Italy, you find this on trattoria tables from Rome to Tuscany. The greens change with what the garden offers, but the principle stays the same: perfect leaves, good oil, a squeeze of lemon, curls of sheep's milk cheese. That is all. No vinegar, no garlic, no herbs competing for attention. Just four ingredients doing exactly what they were meant to do.
Your choices shape the food system. The arugula you buy from a farmer who grew it in real soil, picked it that morning, and handed it to you across a market table will taste different from leaves that traveled a thousand miles in a plastic box. You will know the difference in the first bite. The salad will tell you everything.
Ingredients
fresh arugula
Quantity
6 ounces
preferably wild or baby
aged pecorino cheese
Quantity
2 ounces
in one piece for shaving
lemon
Quantity
1 large
juiced (about 3 tablespoons)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh arugulapreferably wild or baby | 6 ounces |
| aged pecorino cheesein one piece for shaving | 2 ounces |
| lemonjuiced (about 3 tablespoons) | 1 large |
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