Mike Price's Purslane-Peach Salad with Feta and Pickled Red Onions

All week long, the GrowNYC team will be sharing recipes from The Greenmarket Cookbook -- and giving away one copy each day. Now get to the market, and make the most of summer's brightest produce before the season is over.

Today: Don't waste your weeds -- toss them into a salad instead.

Over the years, some farmers have come to appreciate a harvest hidden in plain sight: weeds. While you don’t want them crowding out your crops, wild plants can be as delicious as they are pervasive, and for citizens of the urban jungle, there’s something wonderful about feasting on foraged foods. This recipe from Mike Price at Market Table uses purslane, a summer succulent with crunchy, pink stems and fat, juicy leaves. It has has gotten so popular that, ironically, some farmers now actually order seeds and plant the widely prized "weed."

If you can’t find purslane, this salad is also wonderful with another wild edible: watercress. Either way, you’ll love the pretty quick-pickled onions and creamy-tart feta. Best of all, the savory use of peaches lets you feast on the fruit before you even get to dessert.

Purslane-Peach Salad with Feta and Pickled Red Onions

Serves 4

1 small red onion, shaved into rounds
Sea salt
1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup diced bread, any kind -- from pullman to pumpernickel -- cut into 1/4 inch cubes
4 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces purslane, roughly chopped into bite-size pieces
2 large ripe peaches
2 tablespoons roughly chopped herbs, such as dill, tarragon, chives, chervil, and parsley
4 ounces crumbled feta

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

We're giving away a copy of The Greenmarket Cookbook each day this week! To enter to win today's copy, tell us in the comments: What do you like to do with purslane? We'll choose our winners next Monday, August 25th.

Photo by GrowNYC. Excerpted from The Greenmarket Cookbook by Gabrielle Langholtz. Reprinted by permission of GrowNYC. All rights reserved.

Update: 10 Legs in the Kitchen is our winner! We hope you enjoy your copy of The Greenmarket Cookbook.