Fresh Fiddleheads - Fiddlehead Greens

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Recipes with Fiddleheads

Fresh Fiddleheads


Basic Boiled Fiddleheads

Sautéed Fiddlehead Ferns with Parsley and Garlic

Vermont Fiddlehead Pie

Quick Marinated Fiddleheads

Steamed Fiddleheads With Wild Leek Greens

Spring Wild Harvest Ragout With Fiddlehead Greens & Morels

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Basic Boiled Fiddleheads

Recipes don't get any simpler than this one, yet many "hard core" Fiddlehead enthusiasts insist that this, or a simple sauté, is the only way to eat this woodland delicacy.

Ingredients:

  • 1-pound Fiddleheads ferns, each about 1 to 1 ½ inches in diameter

    Trim the base of your ferns, leaving only a tiny tail beyond the circumference of each Fiddlehead. Rub off any remaining furry brown covering. Rinse under running water. Drop ferns into a large pot of boiling salted water. Boil for about 5 minutes or until tender. If undercooked, you will miss the full, rich flavor. Drain well and serve piping hot with melted butter.

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Sautéed Fiddlehead Ferns with Parsley and Garlic

This is probably the second easiest Fiddlehead recipe you're likely to come across, right after boiling and serving with butter. Again, this simple preparation brings out the wonderful, fresh flavor of the Fiddlehead with a minimum of muss, fuss or bother. Served as a side dish with wild game and a bottle of burgundy, this is exquisite.

Ingredients:

  • 1-pound Fiddleheads
  • 1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced very fine
  • ¼ cup butter or extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper Trim any brown ends off of the fern shoots and wash them in cold water, pulling the paper-like brown skin off as you go. Drain and pat dry. Crush the minced garlic with the back of a spoon or the side of a large knife. Heat half of the butter (or olive oil) in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the fern shoots and turn the heat up to medium-high. The ferns should sizzle, but don't allow the butter to burn. Toss and stir for about 5 minutes. Add the butter (or oil), the garlic, and the parsley. Continue cooking for one minute longer, or until you can smell the garlic and the ferns are tender. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately on hot plates.

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Vermont Fiddlehead Pie

This dish is really more like a quiche. Fiddleheads are particularly popular in Vermont, but word has it that quiche is not. Therefore, this is a recipe for pie. . .

Ingredients:

  • 1 uncooked 9-inch piecrust
  • 2 cups of Fiddleheads, coarsely chopped
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, either sharp or mild
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup half and half
  • 1 tablespoon coarse mustard
  • 2 tablespoons flour

Precook the piecrust in a 350-degree oven. Sauté the onions and Fiddleheads in olive oil and place in the precooked crust. Next, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Blend the eggs, mustard, flour, half and half, and pour over other ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. The pie will be cooked when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. This dish may be served cold, warm, or hot, and is superb with a cold chardonnay and a tossed green salad.

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QuickMarinated Fiddleheads

Refreshing All Year Long - Everyone loves these crunchy spiral morsels. Keeps well in refrigeration.

Ingredients:

  • 5 lbs fresh fiddleheads
  • 1 lb fresh wild leeks, ramps or shallots
  • Fresh peppers - hot or mild to taste
  • Fresh herbs (cut fine)- basil, tarragon, thyme, rosemary and chives.
  • 5 cups apple cider or wine vinegar
  • 5 cups extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp sugar salt to taste

Clean and rinse fiddleheads. Blanch fiddleheads in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove from heat, drain and rinse in cold water to cool them. Clean and cut up peppers, wild leeks and fresh herbs.

Pour vinegar over cooled fiddleheads in a non-reactive container. Add cut up peppers, wild leeks, herbs, sugar and salt. Stir to wet all ingredients. Add Olive Oil and stir again. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

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Steamed Fiddleheads With Wild Leek Greens

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound Fiddleheads cleaned
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
  • 3 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped Wild Leek greens

Steam the fiddleheads over boiling water for 5 minutes,or until they are crisp-tender. Drain, then chill in a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking. When they have cooled transfer to colander to drain.

In a small bowl whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, wild leek greens. Add salt and pepper to taste, whisking until the sauce is smooth. Serve the Fiddleheads topped with the sauce.

Serves 4 to 6

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Spring Wild Harvest Ragout With Fiddlehead Greens & Morels

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound fiddleheads, cleaned (link)
  • 1/2 pound "baby" pattypan squash, trimmed
  • 1/2 pound baby carrots, trimmed
  • 3/4 cup shelled fresh peas
  • 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
  • 1/2 pound pearl onions, blanched in boiling water for 1 minute, peeled, and trimmed
  • 2 thyme sprigs
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1/4 pound fresh morels, cleaned and trimmed and sliced
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced

Boil the fiddleheads in salted water for 4 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender. Drain and plunge in ice water to stop the cooking. When cool, drain in a colander. Repeat the process of boiling and cooling with the squash and the carrots. Boil the peas for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they are just tender, and drain them.

In a large heavy skillet combine 2 tablespoons of the butter, the onions, the thyme, the bay leaf and 1/4 cup of the broth and simmer the mixture, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the morels and 1/2 cup of the remaining broth and simmer the mixture, covered, for 10 minutes, or until the morels are tender.

Add the fiddleheads, the squash, the carrots, and the remaining 1/4 cup broth and simmer the mixture, covered, for 1 minute. Add the peas, the parsley, the mint, and the garlic and simmer, covered, for 1 minute.

Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, stirring until the butter is just melted. Discard the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

Serves 6

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Fiddleheads, Morels & Wild Leeks
The Grand Trio of Spring

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wild leek, morel, fiddlehead
Wild Leeks, Morels, and Fiddleheads

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