Bachelor Cooking: Fiddleheads

I visited my local Farmer’s Market over the weekend. Picked up some vegetables, some frozen meats, even some pierogi.

Then I passed one of the vendors. “Would you like to buy some fiddleheads?”

I’m thinking … I don’t even know what fiddleheads are.

Apparently fiddleheads are the colloquial name for the fronds of the ostrich fern. They’re a popular delicacy in Atlantic Canada and northern New England, and one can only harvest them for approximately two weeks in springtime.

You know what? I need a new Bachelor Cooking recipe. What’s the worst that could happen to me? $7 later, I took home a bagful of raw, harvested fiddleheads.

It was only after I read some cooking instructions on the preparation of fiddleheads that I realized … something could go TERRIBLY wrong here.

Apparently fiddleheads contain a toxic substance that, if ingested, can cause stomach pains or poisoning.

So when I show you my preparation recipe, understand that I waited until today to post this … just in case I messed up any of the steps, and then you’d be reading my blog from the subsidiary of heaven.org.

Let’s get to the recipe.

• Fiddleheads, 1/2 cup
• Garlic, one minced clove
• Olive oil, enough to coat a saute pan
• One lemon, sliced in half
• Kosher salt (every recipe needs Kosher salt)

Examine the fiddleheads. They must be carefully washed to remove any and all dirt. Run each individual fiddlehead under cold water, gently rubbing off any dirt, gunk or papery substance until all you see is a dark green spiral. Store those on a towel.

They should look like this when cleaned.

Pour water into a pan and add some Kosher salt. Heat to rolling boil. Pour the cleaned fiddleheads in the water, let boil for 15 minutes. Some recipes suggest a two-minute blanching, but I’m going with a 15-minute boil here. After 15 minutes, remove from the boil and place the fiddleheads in a bowl of cold water to stop their internal cooking.

Heat olive oil in saute pan. Add minced garlic. Then add fiddleheads and saute. Two to three minutes should suffice. Add the squeeze of 1/2 lemon.

Serve on plate. Squeeze the second half of the lemon onto the fiddleheads.

Eat by themselves, or add them as a garnish for salad or soup.

So how do they taste?

I mean, they’re okay, I guess. Supposedly they have a ton of vitamins in them. And the lemon juice helps cut down the plant’s bitterness, to the point where it feels like I’m eating curled-up asparagus.

I’ll say this. It was tasty enough. Maybe I’ll make more of them once they come back in season. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to go into the woods and forage them myself.

But for a “try it one time” situation, I’m good with these.

And on the positive … I didn’t drop dead after consuming them, so there’s that.