Wild Food Calendar Dinner at the Corson Building

Just a little reminder that I am teaming up with Chef Matt Dillon for a very special wild food dinner at the Corson Building next Monday, November the 16th. We will be making a couple recipes out of the calendar and every other dish will feature wild ingredients too. Everything depends on availability, but for sure we will be using elk, black truffles, rosehips, chanterelles, huckleberries, and watercress. Possibly will also have hedgehogs, matsutake, black trumpets, razor clams, and wild salmon. Lisa Gordanier, my recipe editor, will be helping in the kitchen too! It is a sort of kitchen reunion - she worked with Matt and I back at The Herbfarm.

There will be two seatings - 5:30 and 8 pm. Reservation only.
Cost $60 and includes one copy of The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar. Additional copies will be available for the special price of $10.
See the Corson Building event calendar here and call 206-762-3330 for reservations.

2010 Wild Foods Recipe Calendar on it's way!

Calendar this, calendar that.....My friends and family are pretty tired of me talking about the calendar. Maybe now that it is almost here I can zip up about it for a few. First though, I need to share with all of you that it is printing this week! Emily Counts and I have been diligently working to polish the writing and artwork till it is shiny and perfect before it goes on the presses. We are proud of and pleased with the final work. Thanks so much to Phyllis Counts(Em's mom) for all her precision graphic work and Lisa Gordanier for her editing prowess.

The 2010 The Wild Foods Recipe Calendar will be available August 15 at the Foraged and Found Booth at Seattle Farmers Markets. Soon after it will be also available at many local grocery stores and boutiques. In Seattle Whole Foods and PCC markets will be carrying it. You will also be able to find it at Eat Local on Queen Anne, Kobo at Higo and Kobo Capitol Hill. In Portland look for it at Pasta Works, Food Front, New Seasons, and Whole Foods. Also Pharmaca stores nationwide. You can directly purchase it online at our Etsy store. The retail price is only $13 this year- thanks for all the support last year that makes this possible.

My friend Matty Harper from Dreamlets is working on our website for the calendar that should prove to be style-y and cool. This will have a updated list of stores it is available at. Also some launch parties and calendar dinners are in the works too so keep posted.

And to kick us off to a good start, earlier this week I also got a nice write up by Angela Garbes on the Seattle Weekly food blog Voracious with a sea bean recipe and sneak peak of a page from the new calendar.

Grilled King Boletes with Wild Salad

This recipe from June in from The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar 2009....

Grilled King Boletes with Wild Salad

My favorite way to savor king boletes is simply grilled. Pair them with truly wild delicate spring greens and you have a match made in foraging heaven. This recipe is a guideline to spark your creativity and to use whatever you have found and foraged in the woods or your local farmers market.

For each serving:
1 medium King Bolete
Olive oil
Garlic
A few herb sprigs such as marjoram, thyme, oregano, or parsley
Salt and pepper
A couple handfuls of foraged greens-chickweed, dandelion, fennel fronds, lamb’s quarters, miner’s lettuce, purslane, spring beauty, sheep sorrel, wood sorrel, wood violets, etc
Fresh squeezed lemon juice or wine vinegar
One small button king bolete, sliced paper thin, optional
A crunchy tasty garnish-toasted pinenuts, crispy bacon, or shavings of a hard cheese, etc.

Slice mushroom ¼ inch thick. Mix a spoonful of olive oil with a little minced garlic, fresh herbs, salt, and pepper. Brush liberally on mushroom and grill slices over hot coals until browned and tender. Toss wild greens with a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar or lemon, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and optional raw bolete. Serve next to grilled king boletes sprinkled with garnish of choice.

Bam! nettles in your face

Nettles are everywhere this year.

If you are looking you probably will find them. They grow abundantly, well, are invasive in parks, farms, roadside lots. But the word is spreading in the cooking world- stinging nettles are awesome. I have read quite a few gushing articles here and there lately and seen many interesting recipes too. Fat Of The Land can't seem to stop talking about them- it's understandable- once you eat them it is easy to get hooked. FOTL has some great posts on nettle tonic and first of spring nettles. At Foraged and Found Edibles we have been selling them since late winter, slowly picking our way through the Northwest towards higher and cooler micro climates, moving on when one area begins flowering.

I thought for my first feature stinging nettles would make perfect sense for Nettletown blog....

Why are nettles so awesome?
First of all, as I mentioned they grow everywhere- prolifically in many places all over the world. Secondly, they are delicious- rich green flavor and a toothsome and delicate texture at the same time. Thirdly, they are incredibly healthy for you (off the charts!)- high in vitamins A and C, protein, iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. One of the most widely spread, tasty, and healthiest green wild plants you can find!

Mama always said eat your nettles
My first exposure to nettles as food was through Italian cuisine- nettle gnocchi and nettle ricotta filled ravioli are common nettle imbued versions of these favorites. After years of harvesting I have expanded my nettle repertoire. My favorite use now is in green fillings for Mediterranean style pies, such as a nettle version of spanikopita or something like my recipe in the 2009 Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar for Flaky Semolina Flatbread Stuffed With Nettles And Herbs. This tasty filling is a great way to use whatever greens and herbs you have foraged or might have in your fridge or garden. Also perfect not only as a bread or pastry filling but also eaten tossed with pasta or in frittata.

In the spring harvest a large bag once a week and just keep it in the fridge adding to dishes throughout the week. Easy to throw into soups, stewed beans, or eggs dishes for extra greens and nutrition. You can even cook a pot full and just have them ready to use. Blanch nettles in boiling water for a few minutes, strain out greens, cool in ice water or on a tray, and remember to save the cooking liquid. Drink blanching water as tea with honey, use for soup stock, or water your house plants.

Pureed nettle soup is always a welcome way to basically just drink the green gold. Nettle, green garlic, and potato soup anyone? Or a miso nettle soup/cure- just boil water add nettles and a slice of ginger or clove of garlic and cook for a few minutes, take off heat, add a spoonful of miso and puree.

Preserving for year round use:
>Freeze cooked nettles- whole, chopped or purreed.
>Nettle pesto- this would freeze well for a couple months.
>Dried nettle possibilities- Teas- a foraged tea mix for boosting your immune system of nettles, elderberries, elder flowers or a morning tea mix of nettles, mate and mint. Infusion- making an overnight infusion of dried nettles increases the health giving properties significantly. Boil water, add dry nettles, cover and let sit overnight. More information about this wonder drink from cavemanfood and Conscious Choice. Dried herb- homemade spice or salt seasoning mixes; crumbled or powdered to enrich soups or pilafs or even smoothies. Dried vegetable- try making a healthy backpacking soup mix with dried nettles, dried porcinis, lentils and rice.

Harvesting
Nettles are one of the first plants to pop out of the ground in early spring. Harvest until flowering in late spring or early summer. As the season progresses head for higher land to find younger plants. After plants get taller than 8 to 10 inches, harvest only the top two sets of leaves for the most tender and nutritious part. As the plant gets older the lower leaves become gritty and tough. Use gardening gloves and scissors to trim just under the top two leaf sets. If you cut close enough you won’t need to trim any tough stem off later when cooking.

And even more from the useful nettle……… There are so many known uses a whole book could be written about this wonder plant. A small list- Make rope out of dried stem fibers; a nourishing survival food if you ever get lost; tea can be used for- watering plants, hair tonic, bath water; nettle rennet is used for cheese making; whip body to increase blood flow( for arthritis or cold temperatures); green or yellow cloth dye; consume in tea or freeze dried capsules to alleviate allergies.