Chef Paul: Jackpot!
May 10 2011
We hit the jackpot at this weekend’s market. There were so many greens available: baby beet greens, red mustard greens, lettuce, kale, baby bok choy, spinach and one of my favourites, fiddleheads.
For those of you not familiar with fiddleheads they are the unfurled fronds of a young fern…yep, we’re eating ferns now. Because they cannot be cultivated, fiddleheads are only available for a few weeks every spring and are harvested before the fern unrolls completely. The ostrich fern grows wild in certain parts of North Eastern North America and is the variety most likely to be on tables here. Fiddleheads are an excellent source of Omega 3 and Omega 6 as well as iron and fibre. Imagine a combination of asparagus, broccoli and green beans and you’ll get the flavour of fiddleheads.
We bought one pound of fiddleheads which I’ll store in the fridge submerged in water. I will change the water every few days and this way they should keep for up to a month. Because they grow wild in the forest, it is very important to wash your fiddleheads thoroughly before cooking. To wash them, I usually run cold water over them for a few minutes and try to pick out any larger bits of dirt, submerge them in water and do it again.
It is also recommended that you cook your fiddleheads through completely. Some even go as far as to cook the fiddleheads twice but I’ve never found this necessary. They are a nutritional powerhouse, not only high in Omega 3 and 6 but also an excellent source of potassium, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, protein and antioxidants. Fiddleheads are excellent on their own as a side vegetable or in a quinoa salad for an extra nutritional punch.
They’ll only be here for three weeks at the most so do yourself a favour and seek some out…they truly are a delicacy.
