Mlecz was the name my mother used for dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) – this name refers to the milky fluid found in its stems. (mleko is Polish for milk)
Looking through one of my Polish recipe books I came across a salad using the leaves of mniszek lekarski – (lekarski means medicinal). On looking this up I found this was another name for dandelion!
The photo below is from a website called me.me and on a leaflet from the East Village Farm in New York.
The likelihood of having me having young dandelion leaves for this salad is low so I decided to use rocket (arugula) leaves – rukola in Polish – Eruca vesicaria or sativa which are more readily available and have a similar bitter/peppery taste from what I can gather.
Rocket has been grown in the Mediterranean area since Roman times.
Ingredients
- Bunch of radishes
- Around 70g of rocket
- 60ml of soured cream
- Around a tablespoon of either fresh thyme, lemon balm, flat-leaved parsley or dill
- Extra parsley to garnish
Method
- Chop the rocket into small pieces
- Top & tail the radishes and the finely slice them
- Mix the two together
- Finely chop the herb you are using
- Mix the herb with the soured cream
- Mix the salad with the soured cream mixture
- Season to taste
- Garnish with flat-leaved parsley to serve
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 
Looks just the thing for a warm day.
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