Watercress Spread--green up your January

I have been craving greens like nothing else lately. Spinach, kale, fresh salads, sugar snap peas. . .Mmmmm.

I was grocery shopping the other day, loading my cart down with  produce, and spied something that I thought was watercress. . .It turned out to be "upland" cress which is a little different. Bitter with more of a kick to it. But it still worked for what I wanted to do with it.

Fresh, green-tasting, chivey whipped butter.

Get ready for some serious yum.

I'm not sure about the pedigree of this recipe, except for some reason I associate it with Anne of Green Gables. . .


Watercress Spread

- 1/4 c. butter, softened
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 1 T dried parsley (or a quarter cup fresh)
- 1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped (they're really easy to grow on your windowsill!)
- 2 big handfuls of cress leaves. (If you can't find watercress, exactly, upland cress will do as well.)

1) Put the cream cheese in the bottom of your blender, layer the greens on top (you can discard the stems of the cress, but I wasn't too obsessive about it.) Cut the butter into smaller chunks on top, and lightly press it into the blades.
2) Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. I always have a hard time getting my blender to do what I want without tossing everything away from the blades, but this was pretty easy. Alternately pulse and use a spatula to scrape and press it back down again. It will be done when there are no more chunks of butter or large, intact leaves, and the mixture takes on a spring-green hue.
3) You may store for up to a week in a dish covered with plastic wrap or a cute little jar if you have one.

However, you may just end up eating an entire loaf of bread slathered with this stuff as soon as it's done, and that will negate the need for storage.

What should you do if you have leftover watercress? Add it to soups or salads

Okay, admittedly this recipe strays from the frugal intent of this blog. More frugal adventures will be coming soon, possibly related to tracking nutrition, improving air quality, and doing mid-winter chores.

Till then!


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