. You won’t find it in most gar- a boil, toss the leaves in, and dens: it haunts poorly drained places, strain them out once the water like sloughs, seasonal ponds, and the is yellow and the dock leaves spot under a perennially clogged are limp. They usually change gutter. It likes compacted, clayey to a much duller, earthier soil. But don’t look where cat- shade of green. I discard the tails and tules grow; it doesn’t water—it’s rather astrin- like deep organic muck. gent—and use the dock Unlike most cool-season however I please: buttered greens, dock is a peren- inside a baked , lay- nial, so you can count on ered in a casserole, nestled in coming back year after year a quiche or omelette, floating in to find it. Also unlike most a spring with some rice cool-season greens, it will still be around in the and oil, or just by itself. summer if its earth does not dry out. It is equally tasty at Dock sprouts easily from seed, so you can bring home any time of year. some of its conspicuous, tall, reddish-brown seed stalk and It goes by the Latin name of Rumex crispus and is in the start your own patch under the gutter downspout. Don’t eat buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, along with and rhu- the root or flower stalk, just the leaves. barb. It can be used interchangeably with sorrel in any recipe which calls for that tender, tart green beloved by the French. “Sheep Sorrel” The flavor—lemony and earthy—is similar. Dock can also be Dock is sometimes called “sheep sorrel” because it likes the used interchangeably with spinach in any recipe calling for compacted, acidic pastures ruined by careless sheep grazers. cooked spinach. (No one To make this soup, adapted from a French recipe, wants to eat dock raw.) gather enough dock to yield 3 cups when coarsely chopped. It cooks down just the Boil and drain; set aside. In a two-quart saucepan, in butter, way spinach does and sauté ½ lb. chopped leeks (a cup). Add 4 cups stock, a pound has the same slick of diced yellow potatoes, and simmer until the potatoes are texture afterwards. It tender. Remove from heat. Add 2 cups cream (half-and-half adds a fine lemony will do) and the dock. Puree in a blender; season to taste; zing to spanakopita, serve. The result is a translucent green soup, which is tradi- spinach calzones, or tionally garnished with chervil or baby carrot greens. Makes spinach lasagna. (Use about 8 cups. 1 a mild cheese like mozzarella, instead of Wolfgang Rougle is the author of Sacramento Valley Feast, a parmesan or jack, to wild food field guide and cookbook. She can be reached at mail@ set off dock’s pleasant sacramentovalleyfeast.com. She farms near Cottonwood. sharpness.) To cook dock, I usually bring water to

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