Monday, May 5th was a beautiful day for foraging with Jim Merkel at Kye Cochran’s farm in West Hartford, VT. Her wetlands, meadow, woodland and neighbors’ hillside offered dandelions, stinging nettles, yellow and curly dock, plantain, violets, burdock, marsh marigolds, fiddleheads and wild leeks. We were treated to a chorus of peepers and spotted a foraging moose. We learned identification, nutrition and medicinal qualities of local plants, gathered our meal and prepared a feast. Our salad of dandelion, plantain, violet leaves, and wild leeks was delicious. There were many cooked greens, fiddleheads, a soup, dandelion quiche, mint and strawberry leaf teas, and yummy whole wheat bread and rolls made by Kye. A wonderful cooperative effort! Thanks to Jim for sharing his knowledge, to Kye for sharing her wonderful property and her kitchen, and to Rachel Strohm for sharing the following photos! Thanks also to all the foragers who joined in so enthusiastically!
Here’s a good dressing for a wild edibles salad; the sweetness of the dressing is a good accompaniment to the tang of the greens.
Maple Vinaigrette Dressing
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1 teaspoon dry mustard
one-half teaspoon dried basil
one-quarter cup apple cider vinegar(UVFCo-op carries local cider vinegar)
one-third cup local maple syrup (I used Grade B)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
a little ground pepper
Put all but olive oil in a jar, put lid on and shake it. Add olive oil and shake. Refrigerated, the dressing will keep for several weeks (unless you make a habit of delicious salads such as last night’s, in which case you will use up the dressing long before the expiration date!)
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Here’s a basic recipe for quiche from “Laurel’s Kitchen” cookbook. It can be used for making Dandelion-Onion Quiche. (And for many other veggies as well.)
“Laurel’s Kitchen” Quiche
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3 local eggs, slightly beaten
1 3/4 (1 and three-quarters) cups warm local milk
one-half teaspoon salt
pinch pepper
pinch nutmeg
three-quarter cup grated local cheese
one cup cooked vegetables
uncooked 9-inch pie crust
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine eggs, warm milk, salt and pepper, and cooked veggies. Spread the cheese evenly in the bottom of pie shell and pour milk/egg/veggie mixture over it. Sprinkle with nutmeg and dot with butter (I forgot to dot with butter so it would appear to be unnecessary.) Place pie on a cookie sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set. If the middle is not quite set, don’t worry; quiche needs to stand 10 minutes before serving and should be firm after that.
For the Dandelion-Onion Quiche chop an onion or some wild leek and saute in olive oil or butter for a bit then added the chopped dandelion. Add some salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook until the dandelion seems ready (you’ll want a cup of cooked dandelion-onion mixture) , then add the veggies to the milk/egg mixture. For cheese, I used a combination of Grafton Cheddar and Neighborly Farms cheddar with green onion.
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