Fiddlehead Pasta

The first time I had Fiddleheads I fell in love immediately. What a delicate flavor and a fun, different vegetable. I had them for the first time a couple of years ago. But because of their incredibly narrow season I haven’t had them since. For those unfamiliar, they are only out for a month or maybe even less around June of each year. From what I understand they are not farmed, and picked wild.

So, when I saw them in the grocery store a couple of weeks ago I snatched up a whole bunch right away, with no idea of what I was going to do with them.

I ultimately decided to add them into a pasta side dish. I wanted to keep things good and simple.

Fiddlehead Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of thin spaghetti
• 1 cup of low-sodium chicken stock
• About 1 cup of Fiddleheads
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (give or take depending on how much you prefer to add)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper

Directions:

• I honestly wasn’t sure how to clean the Fiddleheads. So, I did a lot of soaking and rinsing to get clean them off.
• Boil the Fiddleheads in the chicken stock for about 7-8 minutes then quickly blanched them in some ice water.
• Sautee the garlic slices in a bit of olive oil and set aside
• Cook the pasta according to package directions.
• Remove Fiddleheads from water and combine with cooked pasta, Parmesan cheese, and sauteed garlic. Then drizzle with amount of olive oil of your desire and add black pepper to taste.

Have you had Fiddleheads? Do you love them and if so any cool recipes for next year you can share?