Six Uses for Excess Rocket

by Kyrstie Barcak on September 12, 2013

Do you have lots of rocket in your garden? Have you run out of ideas for ways to use it? Here are my top six ways to take advantage of your abundant crop.

My garden has been overflowing with Rocket for the past couple of months. To harvest it, remove the leaves from long stems and pick fresh as required. It does not store well for more than a day. I have found that if the leaves get really large they are very bitter. I tend to remove these and add them to the compost pile to be recycled back into the garden at a later stage.

I have been using Rocket for salad side dishes a few times a week as well as giving away so each week to the lovely ladies who helped my out last Christmas by looking after my garden when we were away in Thailand. Despite this, I still have loads of it and as Spring is now upon us and I have tomatoes, capsicums, eggplants and numerous other Summer cropping goodies almost ready to go into the garden beds. I will need some space that is currently being used by the burgeoning rocket. It will also be prone to becoming strappy and going to seed (flower) as the weather warms.

I have 8 rocket plants in the garden. Why so many ??? The lettuce was slow to start and more seeds germinated than I expected. It sounds like alot to me too when I write it down! I do love Rocket though and would love to eat it every day for dinner but Mr Fresh, not so much, and not in the cooler Winter months.

Six Uses for Excess Rocket

Don’t rip it up to make room for new crops without giving these things a try. If you have put in the hard work to grow it, make sure you get to use it all.

1. Salad

Rocket works beautifully with avocado, pear, parmesan, walnuts, pine nuts, pumpkin, lemon juice and balsamic, add what ever you have on hand for a fabulous fresh salad. Try new combinations, you may just discover an unexpected delight.

The salad above was made with roasted pumpkin, walnuts, avocado, and freshly picked beetroot from the garden and served with a simple balsamic and olive oil dressing.

Some of our other favorites include:

Haloumi Salad

Mushroom Salad Recipe

Potato Salad with chorizo and garden greens

Roast Pumpkin Salad

Spring Salad of Peaches and Pecans

2. Pasta

Add Rocket once the pasta is cooked, prior to serving and then top with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese. It works well added to a simple pasta of garlic and prawns, or passata and prosciutto.

3. Rocket Pesto

4. Lemon Rocket Salt

The flavor of rocket when it has been dried is very different to when it is fresh. It threw me a little when I smelt the dried version. It is VERY grassy smelling. To be honest I did not enjoy the smell of it. After adding some dried lemon zest, the smell and flavor was beautifully balanced and a lovely accompaniment to fish, poultry, potatoes and as a flavor topping for pizza. As the oil glands of the lemon are in the skin I expected there to be very little smell from the zest after I dried it. After a week the smell is fresh and clean and I am really enjoying the combination. Give it a try.

5. Rocket Paste

6. Swap a Smile

Give your rocket to your neighbor, swap it for something they are growing, or give it away to friends. I love the excitement that friends get from being given some of our fresh home grown vegetables. They love it and it makes me happy to share rather than waste it.

Do you have any other ways that you can share for using up rocket? Please share them in the comments below.

Tagged as:
Make from scratch,
Pasta,
Preserves and Sauces,
Salads,
Side dishes,
Spring,
Vegetable garden,
Winter

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Love rocket in pasta, so good!

number 6 also made me smile, great thing to do

Thanks Tim. It is a great addition to pasta

Great and timely post! I have a glut of rocket at the moment too and especially love the pesto recipe. How long does it store for?

Hi Lisa, I like to use the pesto and paste within a week. If they have a covering of oil they last longer.

Lucky you, having so much excess rocket. One day a garden overflowing with edible goodness will be a reality, not just a dream for me. In the meantime, I can get lots of inspiration here

Thanks for stopping by Christina, start with some pots if you are not doing so already. You don’t need a big garden to grow Fresh