President Obama may have made a national faux pas when he commented on the price of arugula at Whole Foods, but you’ll find a great deal on arugula this summer at the local Farmers’ Market.  When the sun starts warming the sidewalks, and the days get slowly longer, I know it’s time for my favorite summer salad green.  In season, you can get a large bunch pulled fresh from the soil for only a couple dollars.  Arugula, or rucola or rocket as it’s known in many parts of the world, is a robust and peppery, long-leafed lettuce.  Used frequently as a salad green, arugula is also a tasty to addition to sandwiches, paninis or pizza.  Because arugula has so much peppery flavor on its own, you don’t want to overpower it with a heavy, creamy dressing.

One of my favorite restaurants in Chicago features an arugula salad with crispy prosciutto, shaved parmesan and lemon vinaigrette.  It’s heavenly.  I decided to recreate this delicious dish at home.  I started with fresh arugula and drizzled it with quality olive oil.  When making a simple salad (or any simple dish without a lot of ingredients), it is vital to use high quality products.  With only a few ingredients, each item plays a critical role in the final success of the flavors.  Take a fresh lemon and squeeze about a quarter to a half over the arugula.  To add a salty, savory component and balance out the acidity of the lemon and the peppery arugula, I like to shave a few pieces of Parmigiano Reggiano over the greens.  You must use real Parmigiano Reggiano.  Any other parmesan is not worthy to kiss the feet of Parmigiano Reggiano (really it’s like table versus Fleur de Sel).  Finally, I finish it off with a teaspoon or two of Truffle Wet Salt, toss and enjoy.  The Truffle Wet Salt adds a warm, earthy component that harmonizes beautifully with the salty Parmigiano Reggiano, tart fresh lemon and sharp, peppery arugula.  The flavors with dance around in your mouth, rounded out by the good, quality olive oil.  Mmmm…so good.  There are times I’ve eaten this everyday for a week.

But recently I’ve been craving Beyond the Shaker Hickory Maple Salt.  Something about the sweet, smoky, vanilla flavors of Hickory Maple Salt…I think about it every day.  I want to put it on everything, and I’ve been struggling with whether or not this would be good with my leftover arugula.  I needed to balance the salt and sweetness with something sharp.  Vinegar didn’t seem right; the flavor might overpower the Hickory Maple.  Lemon and Hickory Maple didn’t sound right.  Finally, I decided to give it a whirl with blue cheese.  While blue cheese doesn’t have the acidity of vinegar or lemon juice, it does have a sharpness that is a great contrast to something sweet or smoky.  I already know I like blue cheese with meat, so why not with smoky Hickory Maple?  I started with some hand torn arugula and again drizzled it with that good quality olive oil.  Hickory Maple (a generous sprinkling) came next, followed by a healthy handful of crumbled blue cheese.  Finally, I decided to add some chopped yellow tomatoes from the Farmers’ Market.  I tossed it all together really well to allow the tomatoes, olive oil and salt to form a nice juicy coating over the arugula.  Well, let me tell you, it was amazing.  The peppery arugula paired nicely with the juicy yellow tomatoes.  The blue cheese and Hickory Maple Salt were an amazing pair – salty, sweet, sharp, smoky.  This pairing is definitely a keeper.  I just hope arugula stays in season!

We’d love to hear some of your salty salad ideas; please share!