Foraging for Food
I love the idea of foraging, I dream of hiking through the woods with my girls, harvesting wild berries and mushrooms, trapping a pheasant…..
Someday we will learn. For now, I stick to things I know, like blackberry bushes and fern fiddle-heads!
Spring has sprung here in the Pacific North West and my bit of forest behind the complex is alive with green and new life!
A recent trip brought me upon some very pretty wild flowers and fresh fern shoots.
This is rare flower and you should NOT pick it! I just learned this from my adopted Mother-in-law Angie 😉 It is a Western Trillium, the plant takes a very long time to recover if you pick it… So we will just enjoy looking at it!
Some fiddle heads… a little past their prime… Seeing these made me think of my sister and how she told me you can eat them. I never knew that! So I decided to venture out with the little ladies and harvest some.
Most of the fiddle heads I harvested were slightly past prime munching stage but I went ahead with it anyhow…
They had a slightly woody taste and texture, I’m guessing they are much more tender when harvested younger. Still, sautéed up with a little olive oil and some other veggies they had a nice earthy flavor and made me feel close to my roots.
I had a more elaborate recipe to try from my Wild Table cookbook but I felt I didn’t scrounge up enough to call for the ingredients and time it would have taken.. So I came up with my own little concoction.
So! If you are going to be harvesting fiddle heads here soon…..
Sautéed Fern Fiddle Heads with Asparagus, Shallots, Mushroom, and Green Onions
- Fern Fiddle Heads (however many you can harvest)
- 1/2 Bunch Asparagus
- 4 Mushrooms (any kind)
- 1 Shallot
- 1 Bunch Green Onions (whites removed, cut lengthwise)
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Clean fiddle heads, rub off any brown hairy fuzzy stuff 🙂 Rinse the rest of your veggies. Heat oil over medium high heat. Add shallot and sauté till fragrant. Add fiddle heads, asparagus, green onions, and mushrooms. Saute over medium high heat until tender crisp, or longer if you prefer. Eat and enjoy!
Get creative! You can double this amount, triple, whatever you need 🙂 I’m sure whole cloves of garlic would add a lovely flavor, Just enjoy harvesting and eating what Mother Nature provides for us ♥ Please forage responsibly.
Other sources:
http://www.urbanhuntress.com/2013/04/foraging-fiddleheads/
http://dnr.alaska.gov/ag/akpmc/publications/pdf/Fiddleheads.pdf
http://norecipes.com/blog/forage-feast-ramps-fiddleheads-stinging-nettles/#sthash.p34T8oJt.dpbs
http://www.ifood.tv/blog/how-to-store-fiddlehead-ferns
Happy Foraging
♥
A Less Than Perfect Homemaker 