Arugula shows staying power adding oomph to salads, soups and more

Arugula burst upon the American culinary scene sometime in the 1980s, where it appeared with alarming frequency on menus as "(Name of food here) served on a bed of arugula." Usually with goat cheese.

But just because something is a fad doesn't mean it's bad, or that it has to fade away. Like espresso, salsa and sushi, arugula is here to stay.

In fact arugula's star is rising again, thanks in part to then-presidential candidate Barak Obama's comment about rising food prices in which he referred to arugula. (By the way, it was $2.49 a head earlier this month at Whole Foods Market.)

While Obama's comment didn't cause a spike in sales of the leafy green (also sold as "rocket" or "rucula"), Whole Foods Market spokeswoman Kate Klotz says "we definitely saw an increase in people's curiosity about arugula when he mentioned it."

For those who are still curious, arugula is a brassica - a member of the same family as mustard, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower - and like most brassicas it's an excellent source of vitamins A and C, and a good source of iron. It is extremely low in calories; half a cup has a grand total of three.

More important for your taste buds, arugula adds that peppery note to dishes that some of us love.

"It doesn't have crunch, like romaine, but it does have lots of flavor. It's one of the most interesting greens available with the most flavor," says Connie Fairbanks, author of "Scratch This: Seasonal Menus and Perfect Pairings."

"Baby arugula is so delicate looking; I love its crisp, spicy flavor," she says. "The bigger arugula has more texture than the baby version."

According to Gillian Riley, author of "The Oxford Companion to Italian Food" (Oxford University Press, 2007), arugula was, in ancient times, esteemed as an aphrodisiac, "and prudently mixed with lettuce, which was the opposite."

Arugula and Italian ingredients indeed are quite a match.

Fairbanks, of Chicago, tosses arugula with good quality parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, crushed black pepper and fresh lemon juice and mixes it with other salad greens, like mesclun, oak leaf lettuce or mache.

"I use it like basil to finish a pizza or to finish pasta; it adds nice color and flavor," she says. She says you can also make pesto with arugula instead of basil or flat leaf parsley or use it in a salad of white beans, Italian tuna, sliced red onion, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

That peppery edge also makes it complement sweet fruits like ripe peaches, honey and the aforementioned goat cheese.

It is also a great foil to fried foods. If you are serving a fried appetizer - calamari, clams or popcorn shrimp, for example - that sharp-tasting "bed of arugula" will balance the dish.

You can serve arugula now without the least fear of looking like you are trying to be trendy.

• MariaLisa Calta with the Newspaper Enterprise Association contributed to this story.

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