A salad fairytale

It reads like a fairytale. Buy salad, eat the leaves, grow the stump and eat more leaves. Well, it happened right here in my patio.






















The robust regrowth of new leaves is quite amazing. I made a large salad out of them. In fact, I find the new leaves more tender and tastier after the regrowth.

Salad leaves with tomato, sauteed onion and portobello mushroom, walnut, raisin and parmesan.

Capers

Have you ever wondered what capers really are? You know, the sour and salty stuff pretty much like miniature olives usually served with smoked salmon or carpaccio?

I always thought the little pickled thing is a fruit until I came face to face with them in Sicily. They are actually the unripened bud of the flowering plant! They grow wild everywhere in the rocky valley of Scicli. The best thing is, they're free for anyone who is diligent enough to pick though it can be back breaking work!

Reading David's post reminded me of my encounter with this fascinating plant few years ago. If you wish to know how the buds are prepared for eating, he describes it very well here.