Fiddleheads on a pizza – why not? From my exhaustive research said tongue in cheek, I’ve concluded that you can eat fiddleheads on anything! Prosciutto pizza topped with fresh arugula leaves me weak in the knees. Usually the arugula is naked but I prefer it tossed with a little extra virgin olive oil and a splash of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. So, sub out the arugula for some fiddleheads.
Now for a little segue… As Ralph left for the city Thursday morning, he found eight horses standing in front of our barn. They’d roamed over, in the night, from the neighbouring farm and were now ready for breakfast. At least, that’s what it looked like. Ralph woke up the owner – it was 6 am – so she could take her horses home.
Meanwhile, I’m completely oblivious to all of the commotion. Remember, I live part of the year on a very busy city street. I’ve learned to ignore extraneous noise. I can hear you laughing! How in the world could I not be aware of eight horses right outside my bedroom window?
When I finished my inside morning routine, I headed out to my flower beds. I’ve spent the last four weeks weeding, staking, edging and dreaming of the beauty to come. My first clue that something was amiss was the over turned flower pots. I knew I’d weighted them and we hadn’t had much wind? And why were my bird feeders empty? I’d just filled them the night before. Puzzled, I picked up my hoe and walked into the largest bed. Irises, peonies, lilies trampled. Not just a light step but a heavy-pushed-into-the ground trample.
Deer! No not deer, the hoof prints were too large. Just then my cell phone rang. It was Ralph letting me know what he’d found on his way down the driveway. Sadly, before the horses ended up in front of our barn, they’d walked through all my flower beds crushing everything in their path.
No amount of cursing or evil thoughts were going to change the mess they’d made so I spent the day muttering like a crazy person as I sorted it out. When I’d finished, although still mad enough to chew the head off a nail, the gardens looked hopeful.
All this to say, I needed a treat hence the decadent pizza.
It worked. Well, the pizza plus a lot of really foul language!
Fiddlehead picking season is over. The tight little violin heads have unfurled into lovely lush ferns, safe for another year. I used half of the last of my harvest on this pizza and the other half on top of some ricotta gnocchi tossed in a little garlic and fresh chive butter. If you’re not familiar with fiddleheads, think of them as asparagus. You can use them interchangeably. With both of these recipes, the fiddleheads are blanched first, then I finish them according to the dish.
one year ago: ciabatta
two years ago: lemon thyme ice cream
three years ago: Spring vegetable soup
Thanks for reading.
