My girlfriend Jules was lamenting the fact that she couldn't find any fiddleheads yet. It got me to feeling guilty: I've seen them pretty much every time I go to the store, but haven't gotten any yet as they're not my favorite vegetable. So, after all the talk, when I saw a big pile of them yesterday, I bought a bunch.
Since I don't love fiddleheads, I decided to try something new and add all my favorite ingredients: butter, lots of garlic, and some mushrooms. They were okay. Still not my favorite. But in good news, FINALLY there was some local asparagus at the farm so that's what we're having tonight. If I can wait that long. I might be having it for lunch. Or a midmorning snack now that it's on my mind...
Random related thought: I haven't been posting much about eating locally because frankly, once I started doing it, I've found it's pretty easy to eat local on a small scale. Certainly not 100%, and probably not even 50%, but once I started focusing on local brands and products, my pantry and fridge became stocked with local choices and I didn't have to think so much about it. One night I even made a 100% local salad for dinner...without even meaning to! We were half way through eating it when I realized that everything, from the greens and veggies to the croutons to the dressing to the cheese were local (at least locally produced if not made from local crops).
I'm sure as the summer progresses, you'll be subjected to more of our eat local adventures, but for now, I'm just making local choices when I can!
5 comments:
i'm a wee bit disappointed that you don't share my passion for fiddleheads, but give you a great big A for effort!
i am going to harangue the local CSA where i'm waitlisted to see if i can eek my way in. if not, i want to at least find out when their farm stand opens so i can stalk them throughout the harvest months.
when does your CSA distribution begin? it would be so much fun to compare loot!
At the risk of sounding stupid ... what is a fiddlehead? Never heard of it - is it similair to any other vegetable? The pic on the site made me hungry so I thought I better ask what it was so I can find some :)
We just got our first CSA delivery last week -- so nice! Unfortunately, they just planted asparagus, so it won't be available until 2009... (On butter: What doesn't it make better?? They should give some to Ted Kennedy. Oh, bad joke! I'm actually very upset about Ted Kennedy, I just have poor coping mechanisms...)
Ok here's my public health side coming out: CDC has investigated some food-borne illness related to fiddleheads. Be sure to boil them for 10 mins before preparing them another way (i.e. with garlic, butter, etc). YUCK!!
They look tasty though ;)
Jules: our CSA starts distributions mid-June, so not much longer to wait now! I'll probably do something ridiculous and post pictures of the CSA hauls :)
Deb: fiddleheads are ferns. They taste kind of like aspargus, kind of like spinach, and mostly like themselves. There's a really short time they're available each year (just a few weeks in May), so if you see them, you have to snatch them right up or else you'll be waiting until next year.
Mary Ellen: Oh, the joys of a more southern climate...earlier growing seasons! You better stick around for the asparagus next year!
Maggie: now you tell me! Luckily, we appear to have survived unscathed. I'm just not a big fiddlehead fan, so I think I can probably use the food-borne illness excuse to avoid them in the future. They're just so interesting, though, it's hard to resist!
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