I went shopping at Union Square farmer’s market the other day and I was delighted to come across fiddlehead ferns. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s the unfurled baby shoot of a spring fern. In northeast US, it’s a seasonal delight that is enjoyed during spring time. I knew this wouldn’t be available for a long time so I bought some.

Now I have actually never prepared it myself and digging back into my memory, I might not even have had it before. After doing some Google search, most sites recommended taking the brown husk off the fiddlehead (why is it called fiddlehead anyways?), boil/blanch it, then sautee it. This is exactly what I did and I sauteed it with some garlic, olive oil and mushrooms. It came out ok…. I didn’t want to overcook it but was wondering if I didn’t cook it enough… There was a bitter, astringent quality about it and maybe it’s in my head but my stomach felt funny afterwards…. Some sites said that fiddlehead is toxic and can cause symptoms of food poisoning and that caused me to worry a bit…. Maybe I have to cook it longer? Or maybe I’m just not use to it. Either way, I noticed that I was starving a few hours after I ate the baby fern and wonder if perhaps the crunchy spring delight had caused the rapid digestion. Anyways, here’s an image of the dish:

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So it’s been a while since I have made a blog entry.  Apologies for the hiatus.  A few months ago, we were asked to be featured on a online cooking show – Economy Bites.  On the show, I was asked to show their audiences how to buy, kill, and cook a whole fish.  It was a lot of fun and the fish turned out to be delicious.  Check it out:

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