Garlic Fiddleheads

Recipes posted a year ago:

• Grapefruit Margarita Chicken
• Sweet Mashed Potatoes
• Ginger-Hoisin Cedar Planked Salmon

Last week, Karen brought home something from the Farmer’s Market that neither of us had ever tried – fiddleheads.  The tightly-wound young growth of a specific variety of ferns, these silver-dollar sized greens promised to be something new and interesting.  After reading up a bit on methods for prepping and cooking them, I got to work turning them into a tasty and unique new side dish for our meal that night.

Gather Up:

• 1 hallock (approx 1 pint) fresh fiddleheads
• 1-1/4 tsp sea salt, divided
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped

Start by brushing as much of the brown fuzz off of the fiddleheads as possible.  Trim the ends of the stalks as well.  Fill a 2-quart saucepan about half full of water and add 1 tsp of sea salt.  Bring this to a rolling boil, then toss in the fiddleheads.  Blanch for about 1 minute, then drain and transfer immediately to an ice water bath.  Move them to a paper towel and pat dry.

Meanwhile, heat a sauté pan over medium heat on the stove.  Add in the olive oil and garlic and sauté for about a minute – until the garlic is fragrant but not starting to turn soft.

Toss in the fiddleheads and continue to cook, stirring often, until they are hot all the way through, but still crisp.  This should only take a couple of minutes.

Transfer to a plate. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 tsp of sea salt, and serve while hot.