Fiddleheads

Too scared to try eating ferns? The fiddleheads in grocery stores right now are still fresh. Buy and eat them soon as the season is closing up.

Friday night I wanted to make some pesto (Parsley Pesto from page 88 in Delicious Detox) but didn't have quite enough parsley. The only other green thing I had in my fridge that was a potential addition was a bag of fiddleheads that I bought a few days earlier. So I carefully washed the fiddleheads, brought a pot of salted water to a boil and then cooked the fiddleheads for 10 minutes. I dumped them in ice cold water afterwards so they would preserve their beautiful green colour and set them aside. I then turned my attention to the parsley pesto. I processed the garlic, sea salt, and walnuts and then added the parsley I had and half of the fiddleheads (1 cup) I just cooked. I whizzed it around and then slowly added the olive oil. Beautiful.

I ended up putting the pesto on 2 fillets of rainbow trout (yes it's fish fridays at our house!) and then sauteing the rest of the fiddleheads with a red pepper and leftover broccoli, added some dried thyme and parsley and bam - dinner was done and was a hit!

Fiddleheads need to be thoroughly washed and cooked completely before eating. They can be used in any recipe where asparagus is used as they are quite similar.