I love to cook with fynbos. It is so rewarding and because it is indigenous it is more adapted to grow here than all of the alien vegetation we rely on for sustenance.
Some time ago, I shared a post on spekboom, not really a fynbos plant but one that has been planted in the fynbos area recently. It makes for such a nice addition in a salad and you can make the best chutney with it!
But since visiting a seminar thing along with @zakludick which he covered in a post I found out about sun rose succulents! Mesembryanthemum cordifolium or sun roses are succulents that most landscapers use to decorate their business. It grows abundantly here where I live. But like the spekboom, it is not technically fynbos. But colloquially people see it as part of fynbos because of its abundance here. They grow so quickly from cuttings. Like spekboom!
In any case, today I will share with you how I make a very simple vinaigrette with these two leaves. It is basically a succulent salad, you can obviously add more things, but this was something I wanted to for a while now. So please follow along as I show you I make this very easy recipe.
So, I made a short YouTbe video of me making the salad! If you'd like to check it out, please watch it!
This salad is basically 5 ingredients:
I begin by making the vinaigrette. Add lemon juice, olive oil and mustard to a bowl and mix vigorously. The mustard will help to combine the olive oil and vinegar into a semi-stable emulsification:
Toss the leaves into the emulsified sauce you just made:
Being fancy as we are, plate it nicely and role-play like we are high-class gourmet!
It can be a main meal, if you like salads. Add more leaves. I am starting to grow more and more of them now that I know they are edible. I have six or so established plants. They have a very sweet taste, sometimes they are a little sour. This goes so well with the sour spekboom leaves.
In any case, I hope you make this for yourself! Maybe you have similar type plants growing where you live. I know these plants have been distributed all over the world (which is not good because they are invasive). So do your duty and eat them to get rid of them where you live! All of the photographs (and video) are my own, taken with my iPhone. The recipe is also my own.
I hope you are well. Happy cooking, stay safe.
