From Forest to Table

 

A fiddlehead is a fern in early spring, before the front unfurls. The name comes from its resemblance to the scroll of a violin. Picked at that stage, steamed and then sautéed, it has a flavor somewhat similar to asparagus but much more subtle. This was only my second year harvesting them, and I carefully cut only one or two per clump (sometimes only one if there were only two or three), wanting to anticipate fiddleheads for many years to come. 

I am not one to sneer at conventional wisdom when it comes to wild foods, so I followed online instructions and steamed the fiddleheads for 10 minutes before draining and patting them dry and adding them to butter and olive oil in a skillet I had already used to sauté sliced mushrooms. Added the mushrooms back to the skillet to warm them before serving. Topped with freshly grated Parmesan and freshly squeezed lemon juice. That was the first course one night.

I had gathered enough fiddleheads that we didn't eat them all the first night, so the next evening I sautéed additional mushrooms and made a cream sauce, resulting in the perfect accompaniment to panfried fresh lake trout. I didn't realize until I looked at the photo later that the chicken on the dish looked like it was falling off a cliff. Oh, well. Dinner was good!

Soon the toothwort blossoms will be open, and I'll gather leaves and flowers for salad.

Christmas Dinner Leftovers, Day 2

 

Leftover Dinner Day 1 was shredded pork tossed with a mix that one would use as a rub before roasting if making the pulled pork completely from scratch. We had the pork roast for Christmas dinner. The next day I shredded a small pile of the leftover meat and tossed it with brown sugar, ground coffee beans, salt and pepper, paprika, cumin, coriander, and ground cloves, then put it in a casserole dish with a small amount of water and let it all "get good together" (as my grandmother used to say) in a slow oven for about three hours. Served on tortillas, it received added oomph from one of our Christmas gifts, pepper and onion relish. 

Day 2 was simpler and faster and really needs no  explanation, as the pictures here tell it all.

A Personal Best

This is going to be your personal best tabbouleh, the perfect summer lunch to take to work. Get up early and add ice cubes to yesterday’s leftover coffee. Your caffeine jolt doesn’t need to be hot to get you moving on a warm, still morning. Last night you poured boiling water over the bulgur and let it sit, so that’s ready. Now add olive oil, chop cucumbers and tomatoes and onions (use a good, sharp knife — don’t saw!) and stir them in gently, then squeeze fresh lemon juice over everything and stir again. The vegetables are all from your own garden or the farm market, of course. 

Now go out to your garden while everything is cool and beaded with dew and gather nice, big, beautiful, dark green parsley. Chop and add. 

There’s only one ingredient missing now, so on your way to work (tabbouleh packed in a cooler, with a container of yogurt on the side), stop by a swiftly running stream and gather fresh mint. When you get to work, you’ll rinse the mint well, chop it and add it to the mix, then refrigerate everything until lunch announces itself. Hunger is the announcement. 

When you get home after work later in the day, finish mowing grass and have leftover pizza from the night before as your evening meal. (You had your salad for lunch.) Check the garden for more ripe cucumbers before you turn in for the night. Tomorrow you can make a cold cucumber soup to serve and enjoy with meat from the grill.

I used the silly word “leftover” twice above. Edit that out. Planning ahead makes life easier. You don’t throw out good coffee when you can have it the next day over ice. You order a medium pizza rather than a small for two people so there will be enough for another evening. Because if you didn’t plan ahead, how would you ever keep up with and survive the busy summer season?

“Time goes on slippin’, slippin’ / into the future….”

And eggplants are coming along. Those will be good on the grill, too.