Ingredients
Fiddleheads
- 500 gostrich fern fiddleheads
- water
- salt
To finish
- 40 gbutter
- 1 clovegarlic, crushed
- lemon
- black pepper
Directions
- Rub off the papery brown scales and wash the fiddleheads through several changes of cold water until no scales or grit remain.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to a full boil and cook them for at least 15 minutes, or steam them for 10 to 12. Ostrich fern fiddleheads have caused documented outbreaks of foodborne illness when eaten raw, lightly sautéed or merely blanched, and Canadian public health guidance is explicit about the full 15 minutes.
- Discard the cooking water and do not use it for anything else.
- Drain them well, and only now treat them as an ordinary cooked vegetable.
- Melt the butter in a pan, add the garlic, and sauté the boiled fiddleheads for 3 to 4 minutes until glossy and lightly browned at the edges.
- Finish with a squeeze of lemon and plenty of black pepper.
- Serve immediately, alongside fish or as a side dish in their own right. They have a season of about two weeks in spring.
Technique
- Boil first, then cook. Every recipe that sautés them straight from raw is one to ignore.
- They taste somewhere between asparagus, green bean and young spinach, with a faint mineral bitterness.
- They freeze after boiling and are worth putting away, because the season is over almost before it starts.
Substitutions
- Frozen fiddleheads, which have usually been blanched rather than fully cooked and still need the full boil.
- Asparagus, which is not the same and is available for far longer.
Variations
- With bacon and a splash of vinegar, which is the Maritime way.
- Pickled after boiling, in a vinegar brine.
- Folded into an omelette or a spring risotto.
History
Wabanaki peoples of the Maritimes and Quebec have gathered them each spring; New Brunswick still supplies most of the commercial harvest.
Frequently asked questions
What is Fiddleheads?
Fiddleheads is a salad & side from Canada: coiled ostrich fern shoots boiled or sauteed, a two-week spring vegetable. Wabanaki peoples of the Maritimes and Quebec have gathered them each spring; New Brunswick still supplies most of the commercial harvest.
How long does Fiddleheads take to make?
Fiddleheads takes 15 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Fiddleheads?
Yes, within limits. Frozen fiddleheads, which have usually been blanched rather than fully cooked and still need the full boil. Asparagus, which is not the same and is available for far longer.
What is the most important thing to get right in Fiddleheads?
Discard the cooking water and do not use it for anything else.
