Having read the family saga written by Lauraine Snelling, which is set in North Dakota, I enjoyed all the mentions of food and recipes. There were a lot of Norwegian foods, and I do plan to cook a couple of dishes described in the books. But it's the mention of the first spring greens, especially the dandelion leaves, that made me go foraging in the garden.
I did get rid of a good amount of dandelions last year, so it wasn't that easy to find them, but I did locate a couple of newly sprouting dandelion clumps. I picked a small handful, just enough for me to make a salad for one. I knew that my guys would decline my offer, but I really-really fancied a salad with dandelion leaves. I also picked a few fresh garlic leaves and a few primrose flowers.
It's not much of a recipe. I have assembled a plate with well-washed dandelion greens, tomato, cucumber, sliced egg and chopped garlic leaves, and scattered a few primroses over it.
I kept the dressing very simple - just a mix of olive oil, honey and lemon juice.
It was lovely. I am definitely going to pick more dandelion leaves. You need to use only very young leaves, about 5-7cm in length. If the leaves are bigger, you might need to soak them in salty water before eating them, to remove the bitterness.
Adding my simple recipe to Simply Eggcellent linky run by Dom from Belleau Kitchen.
I love this, it is so pretty. Almost too pretty to eat
ReplyDeleteI love being inspired by books and films... this is such an elegant salad. i always forget to add egg to salad but they work beautifully. A lovely entry for Simply Eggcellent, thank you x
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