When I was small, maybe 5 or 6, my mother instituted the rule that every Friday night was New Vegetable Night. My sister, having attained the grand old age of 10, quickly gave her own designation to Friday nights. She called it "sleeping over at other peoples' houses night". The childhood burden of new and strange vegetables fell squarely on my shoulders. In all, I think it was probably a wise move on my mother's part. I can only recall one vegetable, Brussels sprouts, my dislike for which even New Vegetable Night could not cure. Despite that, when presented with a plateful of them by Jennifer Leffler's mum at a sleepover I attended a few short years later, I knew would not kill me and so I ate them uncomplainingly. And graciously, I thought, for an 8-year old.
My mother still swears that New Vegetable Night was my fault anyway. She claims that, when I was still very small, and we lived in a remote northern Canadian town, we were invited to the only town doctor's house for supper. Being invited to their house for supper, I gather, was to have "arrived" (inasmuch as one could ever "arrive") in Lac LaRonge. As we lived quite far north (and it was the early 1970's) fresh vegetables were very expensive and hard to come by, especially during the winter. So, on this momentous occasion of being invited to Dr. and Mrs. Weins' house for supper, I embarrassed my mother by clutching a broccoli bunch in my fat pink paw and loudly demanding, "what are these little green trees? I don't eat little green trees." Precocious for a 2 year old, I know. But my mother swears that this is what I said. She also swears it is the reason why New Vegetable Night was all my fault.
One Friday night, the new vegetable that appeared on my plate was fiddleheads.
Fiddleheads, the tightly furled shoot of the Ostrich Fern first discovered by the Maliseet and Mi'kMaq tribes in Eastern Canada, are a springtime delicacy from Virginia all the way up to Eastern Canada. Until tonight, the last time I had eaten one was on a New Vegetable Night in 1977. Not that I didn't like them, I just hadn't seen them in the store. So when I saw them at Save-On a couple of days ago, I declared New Vegetable Night in my house. Even though I don't have kids. Other than Cakes, that is.
They taste just how I remember them - like a very mild artichoke or asparagus, only slightly wilder and muskier and more mushroomy than that. They smell and taste of the earth in the same way that fresh scallops taste of the ocean.
Fiddleheads' texture is surprisingly crunchy, even after cooking for a fair amount of time. I parboiled mine less than the recommended ten minutes (apparently there was a food-borne-illness scare in British Columbia in 1990 purportedly resulting from undercooked fiddleheads - I'm hedging my bets - I hate overcooked vegetables!) and then pan fried them in butter, shredded lemon peel, garlic and white wine. They were crunchy and earthy and green tasting and paired well with the noodle-y pappardelle, crispy, smoky prosciutto and salty reggiano, although next time I might leave off the reggiano and add more lemon.
Ingredients
- One punnet (about 300 grams) Fresh fiddleheads
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp zested lemon peel
- juice of half a lemon
- 1/4 cup white wine
- salt and pepper
- enough pasta or noodles of your choice (my choice is almost always pappardelle) to feed two
- 4 slices Prosciutto, fried until crispy and crumbled
Choose tight dark green fiddleheads that are not mushy or too moist. Use them within two days after purchase. If you have picked them yourself (taking care to ensure they are Ostrich fern, other kinds are highly poisonous) they can be stored, well wrapped in plastic, for 4 or 5 days in the vegetable crisper.
Rinse fiddleheads under cold running water, rubbing gently to remove most of the brownish feathery bits. If the cut ends have got a bit of brown on them, trim them.
While your pasta is cooking, boil the fiddleheads in salted water for recommended time, usually about 10 minutes. I only boiled for 4 minutes, but I am an inherently risky chef and I might die from this. If I don't post again after tonight, you'll know the undercooked fiddleheads killed me.
While fiddleheads are boiling, melt butter in a frying pan. Cook and stir garlic until soft and slightly browned. Add lemon peel, lemon juice, wine and salt and pepper.
Remove fiddleheads from heat, strain, rinse again under cold water and then dry. I found that my salad spinner worked very wekk for this.
Toss fiddleheads into frying pan and cook and stir through the butter for about two minutes or until any excess moisture has evaporated and the butter and wine mixture has reduced enough so that it is no longer watery but thick enough to coat the pasta thinly.
Strain cooked pasta and toss in pan with fiddleheads.
Dish up into bowls and sprinkle with crumbled prosciutto. You can add crumbled reggiano if you like, I think it would be better without it.
Hi Lex :)
this looks sooo good!
I have never seen fresh fidle heads in Australia, although I saw some a bit like them in a Korean grocery store.... but they were preserved.
The new veggie night sounds good (but bad as a kid lol) but how did your mum find enough new veggies for all those friday nights?
I always hated brussel sprouts as a kid, though my boyf just the other week convinced me to try them again ( I am ALWAYS telling him to just try and not ask so many questions, so I couldnt refuse.) I steamed them til they were tender (not mushy at all) with other veggies then tossed them with fresh herbs, alittle butter and S&P. You know what? They were good....
Posted by: clare eats | May 31, 2005 at 11:52 PM
Hi there!
I've not heard anything about this sort of vegetable, nor have I seen it before. Looks stylish (and maybe a little strange...)! Just searched the net for a translation to German - no success... But I found various information on that food-borne-illness, I always knew, that there could be a dark side to vegetables ;)
Posted by: Nicky | June 01, 2005 at 12:06 AM
Wow...that takes me back. When I was small, we'd walk through the woods, looking for fiddleheads! We never ate them, but my step-Aunt would pack them off and take sell them to restaurants in Pittsburgh.
As a child, I actually *loved* brussell sprouts. I'd eat them by peeling them, layer after layer. These days, the very smell makes me sick!
Posted by: Stephanie | June 01, 2005 at 10:14 AM
They look so cool! We don't have anything like that here - I think... I'll have to keep my eyes peeled!
And wow, New Veggie Night... I should do that to myself! It's like it's always the same bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes... You got me thinking here!
Posted by: Zarah Maria | June 01, 2005 at 04:17 PM
Fiddleheads! I've had them some time in the early 80's when I was a "new Canadian" and wanted to taste everything that this land had to offer.
I remember finding the taste OK but, having done my civic duty, never had them again. I've seen them at Loblaws so I have no excuse...This dish you made looks very appetizing. Maybe it is time to try them again.
Posted by: Ana | June 01, 2005 at 05:49 PM
It looks very fresh and tasty.
Posted by: Elvira | June 02, 2005 at 08:59 AM
That looks delicious! What a wonderful combination. I've been wanting to try fiddleheads for a while, but they are a bit hard to find around here. I'll have to be more persistent...
Posted by: Molly | June 02, 2005 at 05:04 PM
They're quite popular in Japan. I can't remeber what they're called, but they're part of the group known as mountain vegetables and appear in rice or soba/udon soup. I ahd some vegetable as tempura a while ago and all they could tell me was that "it grows near the river" They're really part of a long lost tradition of eating stuff that is out there growing that doesn't seem to happen any more. Rocket just used to be a case of old Italian women going along the street picking weeds.
Good for you for giving them a go and doing so well with them.
Posted by: anthony | June 02, 2005 at 06:31 PM
Just a another caveat regarding fiddleheads - only the tightly curled little shoots are edible, you shouldn't eat the large unfurled ones.
Why? Fiddleheads contain a natural toxin, which is probably what caused the cases of food poisoning. So larger shoots = greater concentration of toxin built up.
Be sure if you pick them in the wild, they're from the ostrich fern (the bracken fern looks similar)
Posted by: Don | June 02, 2005 at 11:39 PM
Clare:
I was surprised when living in Australia how popular brussells sprouts are! Good on you for the effort! I may try them yet.
Nicky:
Since it's really an Eastern North America thing, maybe no one German has ever had it before? They definitely taste quite unlike anything else.
Stephanie:
It really is amazing how food is at the root of so many vivid childhood memories. Do you suppose this is true for eveyone, or just those of us obsessed with food generally?
Zarah:
New veggie night is actually a pretty appealing sort of idea. When you think about it, we probably all tend to stick to a roster of 20 or 30 major food ingredients unless something prompts us to try something new. Maybe my mum was on to something there.
Ana:
I'll admit, they are an odd taste. Perhaps an acquired one. That said, I've seen some lovely recipes for lemony fiddlehead soups that sond marvellous. if you're keen to try them again, maybe that would be the
way to go.
Elvira:
Thanks!
Molly:
They can be hard to find, probably because their growing season is so short. Adult ferns are actually poisonous! I think you can sometimes get them frozen though. Maybe at a specialty shop?
Anthony:
Crazy where we get some of our foods, eh? Do you reckon in 40 years we'll be eating say, bird of paradise salad?
Don:
Thanks for the "heads"-up [groan].
I read a few articles about eating fidlleheads and, although they say the adult ones are toxic, they didn't mention about the larger, looser fiddleheads!
This is another fine example of a food that makes me wonder who the heck was the first guy to try eating these? Did he just wake up one day and say to himself, " I know the big ferns made Bob and Marge really sick, but maybe if I eat the little ones, I'll be okay."
Don't get me wrong. I'm glad he did!
Posted by: Lyn | June 03, 2005 at 06:06 AM
Hi Lyn, it was a nice trip down memory lane to read about the fiddleheads! My father only ever brought them home once that I can remember but it was such an event, my brother and I were so curious about the little things and were pleased as punch with how they tasted! Nice post :)
Posted by: Michele | June 03, 2005 at 10:30 AM
Michele:
For the event to have stuck with us both well into our adulthood, well, that's a pretty fantastic thing about loving food so much, don't you think? I reckon we're pretty priviledged individuals as foodies to have that extra stash of vivd memoried related to food!
I can imagine, that a child might think they looked like curled up caterpillars or something. I reckon that'd be an enduring memory!
Posted by: Lyn | June 03, 2005 at 10:45 AM
love the new look - not sure about the fiddleheads though. I have never seen them, though I have heard they exist round here. They just don't look like my idea of food. Give me the pasta, prosciutto & cheese without any green bits any time :)
trying to work out my typo on FBS. It's too early i the morning & I just can't see it. I'll try again later.
Posted by: Sam | June 04, 2005 at 08:00 AM
Hi Lyn,
some coincidences are almost too unbelievable to be true: I read your post about fiddleheads on June 1st, then we went for a special dinner with friends (kind of surprise menu) on Friday June 3rd - and I didn't believe my eyes when we were served ox with spring vegetables including fiddleheads! Here in Germany! They tasted quite interesting - I always need some time to become friends with new ingredients/food. Thanks to you and your blog I was in the lucky position to tell the whole table about them ;) And not to forget, we asked the cook for the proper German translation, "Farnspitzen" it is!
Posted by: Nicky | June 09, 2005 at 04:01 PM
Oh, Farnspitzen! Have to go look for them, would love to try them, your pasta recipe sounds so delicious!
Posted by: Hande | June 10, 2005 at 02:24 AM
I read your article! Well, I like!
Some online shops you can go to find something different.
Posted by: edhardy | June 01, 2010 at 08:39 PM