It’s fiddlehead season in Vermont and so  I got them in my CSA bag.  Luckily  there were a number of recipes for cooking fiddleheads in the bag because I am a fiddlehead neophyte.

This photo shows some of the spicy greens, spinach, scallions, herbs, honey, and fiddleheads that were in the bag.  It doesn’t show the  eggs.  I look forward to cooking the fiddleheads and will post about the results.

I called Carol Stedman, a friend and the administrator of my CSA. She explained that fiddleheads are a bitter herb and that it was important to completely removed the brown husk and then they would be delicious and safe. I followed her directions and trimmed the dry stem end and soaked the fiddleheads in a bowl of cold water for five minutes. Then, I swished them in the water and used a sieve with large holes to drain them. I repeated this twice, until the water was clear. I discarded the few fiddleheads that had any brown husk attached.

I boiled the pristine, husk and toxin free fiddleheads in a saucepan for five minutes, poured out the water, rinsed them in cold water and then boiled them in fresh water for two minutes. I cooled the now tender green spirals in cold water and drained them.

The pre-cooked fiddleheads were ready to meet Italy, at least a flavor of Italy. I sauteed them in olive oil and garlic. Here’s how I did it: … read more

I followed the recipe for Garlic Scallion Almond Pesto that came in my first CSA bag.

Made with garlic scallions, almonds, parmesan cheese and olive oil – it’s versatile quick and tasty. In an effort to overcome my habit of expanding work to fill every available second, I bought a package of fresh cheese and spinach ravioli at the market rather than making fresh pasta. I made the pesto in a mini food processor. The garlic scallions imparted a delicious and not overwhelming flavor of spring garlic.  I modified the recipe a bit. Here’s how I did it:  … read more