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Simple Joyful Food

small ideas that add joy to life

side dish

Oh fiddle-dee-dee, try the fiddlehead ferns!

June 12, 2013 6 Comments
how to prepare fiddlehead ferns

Tonight, I stinkin’ did it.

I bit the bullet and splurged on the $4.99 package of fiddlehead ferns.

Yeah, I stinkin’ did it.

These gorgeous otherworldly tightly wound shoots from the foraged fern plant only come around for a brief moment.  I have lusted after them in magazines as they mocked me in their elusiveness.  I have pondered often whether they taste earthy, or bitter, or too delightful to describe.

Oh, I’ve tasted their goodness.

And Lyndi likey.

 

Now listen to me real carefully.  Pay attention. This is serious talk coming your way. The time is now.  If you’re reading this and you live right next to The Fresh Market in Rogers you have a few minutes before they lock their doors tonight to act on this.  The rest of us, tomorrow will do.  Thursday maybe.

Run.  Don’t walk.

Buy the fiddlehead ferns.

Be delighted at something so simple and marvelous can deliver such an intensity of perfectly balance taste. It’s neither bland, or bitter, or sour, or off.  They taste like the most marvelous perfect taste.  Full of depth and character.

Wondering how in the world you cook fiddlehead ferns?

It’s easy.

Simply wash, wash, wash under a cold stream of water as you brush away any dangling wilted fern leaves. Do a quick snip-snip-snip of the ends. Lay them on a cookie sheet in a preheated 450-degree oven for three minutes. This will get them awake and ready for what comes ahead.  Open the oven and drizzle olive oil and sea salt over them and continue roasting for another five minutes. Almost done now. Open the oven again and add pepper, garlic powder, and lightly grated parmesan cheese.  Oh my, you are so close to tasting these perfect morsels of goodness.  Three minutes later, turn off oven and slide them lovingly onto your awaiting plate.

Give thanks.

Taste.

Savor.

Your fiddlehead fern time is now.

Go get ‘em!

Eat well, my friends. Eat well.

Lyndi

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  1. Heather says

    June 12, 2013 at 2:56 am

    I have to get my tail to Fresh Market tomorrow! I have always wanted to try fiddleheads but always got too scared – I'm feeling brave now my friend 😉

    Reply
    • nwafoodie says

      June 12, 2013 at 11:24 am

      That makes me so excited, Heather! Will we get to see your brave journey on http://www.heathersdish.com? Please say yes… because I can only imagine the gorgeous photograph you will take!

      Brave on!

      Reply
  2. Bethany Stephens says

    June 14, 2013 at 1:32 am

    This makes me so happy. Fred and I had a lengthy discussion about fiddlehead ferns in the backyard last night thanks to your post.

    Do you know what he tells me?

    My fabulous, foraging husband tells me that he runs across them all the time in the woods when he is gathering morels. And I nearly fainted. It turns out that I can have this scrumptiousness that you have described to me AND morel mushrooms hand-gathered by my husband, unpackaged and free. Amazing. All I have to do is wait for a rainy spring 2014.

    Le sigh.

    Reply
    • nwafoodie says

      June 14, 2013 at 2:37 am

      Le sigh.

      I love all of that conversation.

      I also want some morels now.

      We should forage together next Spring. You in?

      Reply
  3. Bethany Stephens says

    September 9, 2013 at 9:45 pm

    I'm so in. Unfortunately, I was uninformed about your lovely reply comment, and I just happened across it today. But, uh, yeah. I'm in.

    XO!

    Reply
    • nwafoodie says

      September 10, 2013 at 1:57 am

      Sweet. I'm going to order some morel mushroom spores and spread them in my front yard (it's like the forest). We can also go morel hunting!

      Reply

My name is Lyndi Fultz, and I live in the beautiful Ozark Mountains, which span Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri.

I like to share small ideas for living simply and eating happily.

You will find that I talk a lot about food because we all need to eat. Why not add little bits of food joy where possible?

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“Just like becoming an expert in wine–you learn by drinking it, the best you can afford–you learn about great food by finding the best there is, whether simply or luxurious. Then you savor it, analyze it, and discuss it with your companions, and you compare it with other experiences.” – Julia Child

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