Recipes for fiddlehead ferns?

I was in Trader Joe's yesterday and my eyes were drawn to a few packages of fiddlehead ferns.

I picked up a few bags, not knowing what to do with them. I did have a warm fuzzy feeling though, because the last time I'd had them, they were simply sauteed in butter with a little salt. (And what doesn't taste great with a little butter and salt?) I'm content to do the same with one of the bags, but does anybody have any recipe recommendations for the other one?

Thanks much,
Zee

Hello Zeeshan,

Here is a page with a couple recipes for it

http://www.chitterlings.com/02nov02.htm ... d%20recipe

I have not tried them myself as they LOOK really bad. I worked at a grocery store and I dealt with them alot and the more I looked at them the worse they look. They remind me of snails from the curled look.

I am told they are really good though.

Hope these help.

Eat them fast, they deteriorate quickly. If you can't find an alternate recipe, I would suggest cooking them all with butter and salt and figuring out something with the leftovers--a risotto or a light soup, perhaps.

I've made them several times, they are typically one of my harbingers of spring. However, I must admit that the first time I tried them I wasn't so enamored. They need to be cleaned extremely well to remove all of the parchment shreds, which is done by soaking and then soaking again. Unsurprisingly, I typically use them with a pork product, really good bacon or pancetta. The most simple recipe you can find is to to blanch them and then saute them in bacon fat and finally garnish them with crumbled bacon.

chefmike wrote:I have not tried them myself as they LOOK really bad. I worked at a grocery store and I dealt with them alot and the more I looked at them the worse they look. They remind me of snails from the curled look.

See, I think the main allure of fiddleheads is that they look so weird. I've had them maybe three times (think I found them in produce sections of Whole Foods and places of that ilk), and I thought they were fine, tasting of maybe some kind of cross between dandelion and wild asparagus, but the flavor was not THAT great...they just look cool, and they're rare, so I eat them when I can find them.

Hammond

I don't have a specific recipe for you (I also just usually sautee them in whatever else I'm cooking that night - a few nights ago, it was a very light butter/oil/lemon/herbs sauce), but I can give you this hint: parboil (or steam) them before you sautee them. Don't do it for too long, as you want them to stay crispy, but it really seems to help with the flavor a bit.

(As I'm writing this, I just realized that you're probably talking about frozen fiddleheads. In that case, I'm not sure that my above hint is particularly applicable)

My mother tends to use the same recipes she uses for spinach or kale when she cooks fiddleheads, and it seems to work well.

Although I would've thought the same thing, these fiddleheads aren't frozen.

I'm with Hammond -- it's not so much the taste of these that keeps me on the look out, but they've got great visual appeal for me.

Zee

Another big part of the allure is that they are a truly seasonal, perishable product, available at their peak for a very short period at a time when many of us crave fresh produce. The same also applies to fresh fava beans, dandelion greens, sorrel and other spring veggies.

David Hammond wrote:
See, I think the main allure of fiddleheads is that they look so weird. I've had them maybe three times (think I found them in produce sections of Whole Foods and places of that ilk), and I thought they were fine, tasting of maybe some kind of cross between dandelion and wild asparagus, but the flavor was not THAT great...they just look cool, and they're rare, so I eat them when I can find them.

Oh they do look weird but I have been told they do taste alright/good, usually with butter and salt. We would get them every year at the grocery store in the summer months for a short time. I do not think people would be disappointed if they could get past the look.

I have seen them go bad on a regular basis so maybe that does not help.

butter, salt, a little water, fresh parsley and chives...perhaps a sprig of thyme. do blanch them first. goes nicely with asparagus and rocket.

Erik.

Does anybody know if Whole Foods has fiddlehead ferns yet, and if not, who does?