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Dandelions, growing in the front lawn. Spreading all over the back garden. It looked like like this year, they won. But I counterattacked -- I decided to eat them! Clipped the smaller, more tender leaves. Washed them, three times. Chopped out the middle vein. Sauteed them a minute or two in just a bit of bacon fat, garnished with white pepper, black pepper and just a touch of allspice. Placed on a warm slice of potato baguette, slathered with salted butter from Normandy. Heaven.
The yard will soon be shorn of dandelion greens. Who says there's no free lunch?
The yard will soon be shorn of dandelion greens. Who says there's no free lunch?
Dandelion greens have an interesting relationship to peasant foods in other countries – flavorful and nutritious, yet foreign and exotic to us. Do you think collard greens could be substituted in this recipe or a similar one? They do go well with bacon fat and pepper, mmm.
ReplyDeleteI'd heard about eating dandelion greens from my mom, who lived through the Depression, and from storybooks as well, when folks ate them from true need. One day as I was weeding in our wild garden, and ravenous (dieting), I seized upon the dandelions, gobbling up the tender shoots right then and there. Tasty organic salad. It rather shocked me, tho, the force of primitive hunger.
Have enjoyed many a juicy nibble from the forest, including blackberries, huckleberries (cooked in pie), saskatoons (from Canada), and blueberries. When good food grows all around you, pourquoi pas ?
Hnmmmmm. I'm sorry to say I don't think collard greens would work, as they are considerably coarser than dandelion greens and require more cooking. But you could chop them very finely, add some chicken stock or other tasty liquid, cover and steam for awhile, then cook the excess liquid off to get them to the point where you could eat them on bread. Seems like a lot of work, though! If you try, let me know how it works.
ReplyDeleteAs for the juicy nibbles all around us, I agree entirely, as you can see from the following post where I attack the lemon balm!