Serves 4
12 small new potatoes with skins on, washed
2 quarts water
1 teaspoon salt
24 fiddleheads, cleaned and trimmed
6 slices bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh savory
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
Boil the potatoes in salted water for 5 minutes, then add the fiddleheads and cook about 15 minutes or until both are crisp-tender. Drain and transfer to a warm bowl.
Meanwhile, sauté the bacon in a medium skillet until crisp. Drain it on paper towels. Pour off all but 2 teaspoons of fat. Sauté the garlic in the fat until soft.
Add the bacon, garlic, and herbs to the cooked potatoes and fiddleheads; toss well. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Pat Crocker of Hanover, Ontario, Canada, leads walks in which participants learn to identify and gather wild herbs, then prepare them for a gourmet lunch. Her latest cookbook, The Healing Herbs Cookbook (Robert Rose, 1999), features culinary and medicinal herbs in timely, tasty dishes.
Click here to read the original article, The Queen of Spring: Fiddlehead.