Sautéed Fiddleheads

"Crunchy, yet satisfying." This is what Peter said as he tasted these fiddleheads, attempting to quote the Lion King scene where Pumbaa slurps up a worm and says, "Slimy, yet satisfying." He was close. Lucky for you, these are not slimy, but boy are they satisfying.

There are many types of edible fiddleheads around the world. However, the fiddleheads in my area are the furled fronds of a young ostrich fern. Fiddleheads feel like such a Mainer thing, but as I read more about them, I realized we share the ostrich fronds find with Canada. The Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, and Penobscot peoples of Eastern Canada and Maine traditionally harvested fiddleheads, and they remain a traditional dish in these regions. I still say it's a Maine thing, meheheh. Just let me have this moment.

Fiddleheads have a short season—really only a few weeks in the spring—so when you see them at the Farmer's market or at your grocery store, GRAB 'EM!

I also just learned from good ol' Wikipedia that "when picking fiddleheads, it is recommended to take only half the tops per plant/cluster for sustainable harvest. Each plant produces several tops that turn into fronds; repeated over-picking will eventually kill the plant. Maintaining sustainable harvesting methods is important in the propagation of any non-farmed food species."

This is a great tip, as I still have yet to harvest my own (I feel like such a poser). When I finally do harvest my own fiddles, I picture Paul Bunyanesque lumberjacks surrounding me and knighting me as a true Mainer.

Until then, I will continue whipping up these "crunchy, yet satisfying" fiddles as if they were my own harvest, and enjoying this fleeting delicacy of spring!

Massaged Kale with Dressing

I bet that title really pulled you in..."Kale Salad...Let me just stop everything because this is gonna be good." Okay, listen. It is not the most exciting sounding recipe but I think you need to keep...parmesan...reading just a little bit...soy sauce...longer. 

I promise...garlic...this recipe will not...lemon...be anywhere near as dull as its name.

Also, having just given birth and now a mom to an 8-week-old, I find that I am really craving hearty veggies, especially leafy greens, and having little time (read: zero) to cook, this recipe
provides two key things: no cooking and those leafy greens.

I think one of the coolest things about kale is that is can be treated like lettuce in a cold salad, and you can dress it all fancy and stuff, and then the next day, the salad is almost better than the day you served it! Can lettuce make this same claim? I think not. Next-day regular salad creeps me out. The lettuce is all wilty/slimy and just up to no good. But kale? It's like those runners you see in race-day recap photos, the ones that are smiling and have perfectly applied makeup and great hair and are just crossing their 6th mile. Kale does that kind of thing in salads. It looks great after a dressing marathon.

The other cool thing about kale is that it continues to thrive in the snow! So, if you are in denial that winter is upon us, kale helps you stay in denial.

I really could go on and on. I just love the whole kale trend that seemed to come out of nowhere one day and hasn’t gone away. I also enjoy the fact that in the midst of a newborn running my schedule, this recipe is quick and delicious, and the post is just as quick ;)

Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal Breakfast Tart with Blueberry Sauce

Here's a fun fact for everyone: I have never made a tart. I guess you could say I bake less and cook more. But, I am also a sucker for your not-so-healthy sweet breakfast and may or may not choose pie or cupcakes when they are available. THEY JUST GO SO WELL WITH COFFEE, OKAY?

But, I also like to be healthy, and those two likes don't really go together. So, what does this not-so-baker do? I set off to make a sorta-baked, sweet but healthy breakfast tart!

It's the season of berries! A perfect opportunity to play around with sweet but healthy options for your breakfast!

I discovered a berry tart on the Cilantropist's blog and decided to use that recipe as a base with the healthy breakfast option of oatmeal in mind. I wanted to combine the two ideas to come up with a tart that would be more like oatmeal but would still feel like I was eating pie!

Had I been on my A-game, these colors would have been perfect for the 4th, but I think I am still on my B-game from those Franks & Beans.

Well, you could always have an Independence Day movie brunch and serve this. Yeah, that would work.

Pasta Dough

A few seconds ago I was in my kitchen, whipping up a batch of pasta dough for tonight's meal, and thought, "OH!  How dare I not share this with you!" So, I started taking pictures immediately.  Lucky youuuu!

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com, originally printed in Gourmet's April 2008 issue. I've made a few changes to reduce waste (I include the egg whites) and removed a lot of the water (since I incorporate the entire egg), as well as added a little healthy glimmer in there for your hearts (whole wheat flour). I know, that is awfully kind of me.

My recipe is doubled from the original, which makes about one pound of pasta. You can roll the dough out by hand or use a pasta machine. Make spaghetti, linguine, lasagna, pappardelle, ravioli, you name it! Just remember, fresh pasta cooks in a matter of minutes! Oh, and salt your water, per favore :)

Green Coconut Curry Sauce

I was working on developing this curried seafood recipe the other day, and everything was original except for the sauce. I was using a jar of green curry sauce from the grocery store and it was kinda making the awesome flavors cry a little when I poured it on top as the finishing touch. So, of course, what do I do? I set out, right in the middle of one recipe, to make another: my own version of green curry sauce. 

I think I like this one better just because it's so pretty in the saucepan. Is that sad? Well, of course, it tastes splendid too.

Spring Minestrone Soup

May is a confusing time for us Mainers. The days fill up with leftover April showers, the smell of fresh-cut grass is in the air, birds begin chattering/bragging up a storm about the beefy worms they are finding, and us Mainers enter the period of spring confusion. We're ready for summer because the last official day of winter has passed. We even try to wear our shorts and bathing suits on 55 degree days, just to convince ourselves that it is, in fact, getting warmer and that summer is right around the corner.
"Maybe if I wear some flip-flops today, or crack the windows, I won't notice it's raining and feels like, well...55 degrees." I have this train of thought daily in the spring, and usually I just get chilled and cranky, and then accept (for at least the rest of the day, and usually start over again the next) that it is still too cold to be summer. But that does mean one neat thing: I can still sneak a comforting, winterish dish into the dinner menu without feeling like it is out of place.

I am an avid follower of the food blog SimplyRecipes. I was searching for spring dishes one rainy afternoon when I came across SR's Spring Minestrone Soup. I thought, "How cool! It's the best of both worlds: springy but still a nice, warm soup." SR's recipes have never failed me, so I set out to make this soup that evening and it was just perfect! I love that it has more unusual vegetables in it than your classic minestrone- artichoke hearts, chickpeas, asparagus...and the best part is, you swirl pesto into it at the end!!!
YES PLEASE, CAN I GET A "SWIRLY PESTO?" I have no idea what that is, But.It.Is EXCITING!