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This week’s Rolling Prairie Farmer’s Alliance distribution included a big bag of mesclun. Oh, it’s pretty stuff, all those little bright green leaves with touches of purple and red here and there. It’s grown here by the Wakarusa Valley Farm (which finally has a website; yea!). But you may wonder what to do with it.

Knowing some uses is a worthwhile bit of knowledge, because the local mesclun is:

• one of the few fresh local crops available here year-round.
• quite tasty.
• something you’re going to see a lot of, especially if you’re an RPFA subscriber. Farmers market patrons probably will, too.
• full of vitamins and minerals. (Nutrition will vary by mixture of greens, growing, storage and so forth, but here‘s what one commercially distributed mix offers. You can see it’s a good source of vitamins A, C and fiber with a little calcium and iron, too, and all for just 35 calories in a 4.5 ounce package.)

OK, so here are some ideas of what to do with it:

1. Make a big salad. I’ll bet you thought of that already. I like a salad with mesclun that plays off the tangy flavors, such as one with a bit of fruit (apple chunks, raisins, orange slices) plus a bit of crunch (I go for almonds, pecans or pine nuts, but you could also do croutons), and a vinaigrette with just a touch of sweetness, such as equal parts olive oil and white wine vinegar or lemon juice, plus a touch of sugar, salt and pepper. Let’s say 1 tablespoon each of the oil and vinegar/lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon sugar. You could crumble some blue cheese or goat cheese over the top, too. Yum. Here’s a combination that worked for Elle.
2. Put mesclun on a sandwich. Forget sprouts. Wash and dry a handful of mesclun, and use it on your favorite sandwich. It’s great with cheese, meat, egg, hummus. You also can put it in a sandwich, as in a pita. Maybe not so good with peanut butter, but, then, I haven’t tried it.
3. Make a bed of mesclun. Yes, use it just as you would big ol’ lettuce to make a bed for your lovely chicken salad, your salmon salad, your falafel, your carpaccio, if you go in for that sort of thing.
4. Practice your lettuce ID skills. Oh, sure, you can eat the mesclun, but you also can challenge yourself—or your family members—to identify all those baby greens. Look, there’s mustard! Hey, isn’t that arugula? Could this be chicory? Or, if you’re highly practiced you can try to figure out how this week’s mesclun is different from last week’s. For instance, Wakarusa Valley’s sometimes has bits of dill in it. I love that.
5. Wilt it. Yes, you can wilt mesclun just as you might grown-up greens. Cook a peeled clove of garlic in a couple tablespoons olive oil till the garlic is soft, then compost the garlic (although I suppose you can eat it if you want), and drizzle the hot oil over about 3 cups of mesclun in a bowl. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of wine vinegar and toss. Or, if you’d like them wiltier, use a big pan with a little more oil, then add the mesclun and vinegar to the pan and toss. Eat it as a side dish or use it as a bed for a hot main dish, say a piece of grilled fish.