I used to overlook watercress in my daily quest for leafy greens — maybe it was one too many mayonnaise-drenched British tea sandwiches or some vague memory of having choked on a cress stem in my youth. But after I moved to Paris, I began to think of watercress as a go-to ingredient. What caused this shift in perspective? It all started one night in a Paris bistro.

Remember those ubiquitous sprigs of stiff curly parsley that used to garnish every single plate in the diners and chain restaurants of America — that token bit of greenery that was always the last thing standing on the plate?

In France, that token bit of greenery is often a sprig of watercress — especially on a plate of duck. But the French are a thrifty and waste-not sort of people, unlikely to include gratuitous ingredients on an otherwise thought-out plate. And in France, it is seen as rude not to clean one’s plate. Leave even a sprig of unwanted watercress on your plate and the waiter is likely to ask you what is wrong.

So one night out over roasted duck breast and potato puree, I snatched up a bit of watercress in my fork, and had a tiny revelation. Why had I been ignoring watercress for so long? It had just the right amount of pepperiness to cut through the rich flesh of the duck and the creaminess of the potatoes.

Soon, I began using watercress as the main green for a salad of cold sliced smoked duck breast, an honor I’d previously reserved for arugula and endive. Since then, I’ve found all sorts of duck-watercress pairings.

A crispy duck and watercress salad is popular on Chinese restaurant menus. I’ve used recipes for duck soup garnished with watercress, and watercress soup garnished with duck. A watercress-duck salad works well with grapefruit slices or an orange vinaigrette. (Plain watercress salads can do with a crumbling of rich cheese, like an assertive roquefort.)

For the non-duck-eating world, watercress is a good foil to cut through the richness of other ingredients. Maybe that is why French chefs like to top a bowl of watercress soup with a poached egg, to round out its peppery flavor with a little richness. Or why it can hold its own in a mayonaisse-y white-bread tea sandwich.

Related: How to pan-roast a duck breast (Cookthink)
Recipe: Watercress Salad With Lemon-Parsley Vinaigrette (Cookthink)

Posted by kristin in ingredients, root source | | Subscribe to this feed