Locavores breathe a sigh of relief during the Spring. Find out what we foraged this weekend, and how we created meals around our treasures.
Today is Sunday afternoon, March 20th, and my family is going foraging. I have just a few veggies and herbs we can now eat, but it’s certainly not enough. I know, however, there are more outside so I thought I would take you along with us. I’ll also take you to Crestview Farms, just down the road from my house, and talk about home-produced eggs. So…let’s get going!
Garden report ~ First things first, here’s how my early garden is growing: onions are now at the early green eating stage, Swiss Chard actually looks like it might do something, and a few sprouts are…oh, maybe one-half inch tall now? Lettuce and spinach are at the “micro-green” stage and if I wanted to get fancy, I’d be cutting. I’m going to wait, however, because I prefer to eat mouthfuls of those luscious crops. Broccoli and cauliflower look promising and are now about three times their planting-time size, and so far…no sign of potatoes. My oregano came back and my asparagus is beginning to make so all-in-all things are looking okay. I’m still contemplating our extra bed. Mick and I have finally decided on a size and location. And now, for the fun stuff!…
Farms across Oklahoma ~ We received a suggestion on Facebook to feature local growers as often as possible, plus put a recipe together with their goods…and guess what? We did just that. This week’s featured grower/producer is “Crestview Farms” in Arcadia, Oklahoma. I’ve been watching these producers for about seven years, as they’re only about two miles north of my home. They’ve gone from a two-person operation with a whiteboard out by their driveway, to a multi-person operation with nice signs and banners you can easily read as you drive by. Located on the northwest corner of Douglas Boulevard and Coffee Creek, you can’t miss it. There’s a large spread and you’ll see the fields right away.
Although it’s early in the season, I stopped by to see Susan (she and her husband own the establishment) and say hello because they had a “Fresh Eggs” sign up. I am a sucker for fresh eggs and will do just about anything to avoid store-bought, weak, runny, goopy…icky eggs purchased from a producer who cages their hens and shoots them full of hormones and antibiotics. Sure enough, she had some. They were not hers, however, but come from another local producer. Susan has a little storefront at Crestview and carries other products from local producers. So I got to learn about “W Bar M Sheep and Wool, Inc.” in Wheatland, Oklahoma as well. Here’s a quote from THEIR Facebook page:
The purchase of two Shropshire lambs thirty years ago started a life-long love of sheep and fiber. What started as a 4-H project to keep me busy has become a way of life. After spending seven months in Australia working with Merino sheep, my interest changed from meat sheep to wool.
Speckled, various colors, large and oblong...this is what distinguishes home-produced eggs from ickiness.
Evidently they have some chickens as well. I also purchased a large container of honey produced by “Honey Hill Farm” in Edmond. The honey farm owners manage about 140 hives on a spread north of Guthrie, so we may need to drive out and meet them too. Susan mentioned that there will be an “Herb Fest” the first weekend in May. Watch their Facebook page for more information. They expect more than 20 local producers to be there, and she promised some French Tarragon which is what I’ve been waiting for! To wrap up a little bit about Crestview, I just wanted you to know they have blackberries and various other crops throughout the year. Tell them we said “Hey!” if you stop by.
Now…to create a meal with the eggs. As you can tell, my garden doesn’t have much growing yet, but my yard does. And, my neighbor’s yard does! Their house is for sale and we’re watching over it, with free reign of the cilantro and mint. So, here’s what I know we’re after today…Mint, cilantro, prickly pear cactus, dandelions, asparagus, and green onion. Rylee, Mick, Tonks and I went on a walk…here are a few photos:
For some reason, Prickly Pear cactus grows out here in the cross-timbers. It's not a plant you'd normally expect, but look closely and you'll find it.
I spy with my little eye, Prickly Pear! It's hard to see beneath the leaves in the foresty areas, but we found some.We're only having four for dinner, so I just want to get what we need and let it replenish for next time. When foraging this edible plant, try to get the younger, darker green sections. The older, tougher sections are bears and really not edible.
Next, we gathered a bunch of dandelion greens. Unfortunately, I read information AFTER I got home that if the plants have already flowered out, the greens are tough and bitter. I only got one or two plants without flowers, so this set us up for dinner failure number one. Word to the wise...dandelions can be eaten in salads, stir fried or steamed, but please make sure and grab the plants before they bloom! They sort of taste like arugula and dirt, but the flowered out plants just taste like dirt!
Okay, armed with mint and cilantro from my neighbor's yard, asparagus, dandelions and cactus from mine...it's time to head to the kitchen. I have "hat hair" in this photo!
I think we'll have a southwest breakfast-dinner tonight. I've cleaned up my ingredients and they're now ready to be used, along with garlic, avocados, jalapenos, onions and two large tomatillos.First, I start my tomatillo sauce. I cut up two tomatillos, 1/3rd of an onion, 1/2 of a large jalepeno and four or five cloves of garlic. I roast these vegetables at 450F for thirty minutes.
Next, I cook up a pound of Jimmy Dean "Regular" sausage from Doo-rant, Oklahoma. What we don't eat will work for breakfasts on Monday and Tuesday.
While the veggies are roasting and the sausage is cooking, I whip up some blueberry-lemon scones. Just follow the Bisquick biscuit dough recipe, add the grated peel of one large lemon, spread flour on your work top and shape dough into a nice circle, oval or square. Flip it over so both sides can be handled (b/c they are covered with flour), cover half your dough with blueberries, sprinkle 2 T. of sugar in the raw across the berries, fold over the dough and seal the edges.Cut the dough into equal sizes, but not necessarily equal shapes. Bake as instructed, and check them occasionally. Burning your good work is not a cool thing to do.
Once they're done, cool them, then spread on icing made from: 1 C. powdered sugar, 1 T. butter and the juice of approximately 1/2 lemon. Don't over-add the lemon juice...add gradually until it's the right consistency for your preference. Some like "drizzle," others like a thick glaze as shown here.
Time to pull the veggies out of the oven. Yum! Now all you have to do is throw them in a blender or food processor with some salt and ground pepper, and your sauce is done. If you want to have some fun, you may also want to add fresh cilantro and sour cream to this base and have a creamy, fresh sauce. I would suggest no more than approximately one finely diced T. of cilantro.
Time to start our "foraged" omelet. Sautee' 1/3 of an onion and about 5 or 6 Crimini's in a pan with just a bit of oil.
Blend approximately five spears of asparagus, three small green onions (both chopped), 1 C. shredded cheddar cheese, with seven eggs (I changed it from 5 to 7 because my daughter's boyfriend decided to come over and eat), plus your sauteed veggies. Make sure and use a bit of pan spray because an omelet this large is hard to flip.
While the omelet was cooking on a lower heat, I stir fried some dandelion greens with garlic and a touch of balsamic vinegar. They just weren't good...too tough and stringy...although just as they came out of the pan I ALMOST thought I could eat them. Note to self - NEVER eat dandelion greens that have flowered out. Never, ever! ALWAYS pick young, tender dandelions if you're going to have a prayer getting them into your family's tummies.
Now, here's the cool part. In order to finish this omelet out with a southwestern flair, flip it, then while the raw side is cooking, layer 1/2 the omelet with sprinkles of chopped cilantro, about 1/3 package of cream cheese pinched off in small bits and spread evenly, and two avocados sliced thinly. Once the bottom side is done, fold over the omelet and continue to let it cook for another minute. This melts the cream cheese and steams the cilantro.I don't have photos, but my husband diced potatoes and fried them with salt, pepper and seasoning salt. We served this meal with sides of sour cream and tomatillo sauce - which we ate pretty much with everything on the plate except the scones!
Here's a blurry photo of Rylee digging in. She and Tyler both thought the tomatillo sauce was "awesome" and "think we need to cook like this every night." They even half-way ate the chewy dandelion greens. 😀
Now, this post won’t be complete until I write about the mystery Prickly Pear cactus. Where was it? Why didn’t we cook it? Was it any good? And what did we do with the mint? All good questions.
The cactus got Mick’s work gloves full of prickly stickers. Then, they got on my foot (I have no idea how this happened), my hand, Mick’s fingers…and at some point we decided we needed to think about how we were going to de-stick them without ruining gloves. There are all kinds of articles on how to handle these things and I’ve read several. We just didn’t “get it.” All we did was end up with stickers everywhere.
This series is about the ups AND the downs, so I suppose my wild foraging wasn’t really all THAT today. But, we tried, and we learned…and I’m going to figure out how to eat cactus at some point. Just not tonight. Rylee, had a WIN with the mint. 1 can frozen concentrated lemonade, 1 can water, three cans ice, 14 leaves of mint – blend together in the blender until all mixed well and mint is minced…frozen mint lemonade. Delightful!
[kelly]
Note – Next week I’ll show you some cool things you can do with honey, show you how to make tempura battered asparagus better than any restaurant and I think we’ll eat a vegetarian meal. After all, my oregano is leafing out, right?
Sounds delicious and looks yummy. I appreciate the recipes and helpful hints. I’ll try them.
I got my garden planted today. First one I’ve had by myself. Hope it makes well.
Edna, you are quite an encourager! Good luck with your garden…I hope it goes well too! Take care, Kelly
You are making me hungry, girl! Sounds yummy!
WAS, Anne, indeed it ’twas. Miss you, my dear.
yum
Mm-HMM!
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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.
Farms across Oklahoma ~ We received a suggestion on Facebook to feature local growers as often as possible, plus put a recipe together with their goods…and guess what? We did just that. This week’s featured grower/producer is “Crestview Farms” in Arcadia, Oklahoma. I’ve been watching these producers for about seven years, as they’re only about two miles north of my home. They’ve gone from a two-person operation with a whiteboard out by their driveway, to a multi-person operation with nice signs and banners you can easily read as you drive by. Located on the northwest corner of Douglas Boulevard and Coffee Creek, you can’t miss it. There’s a large spread and you’ll see the fields right away.
KELLY, you are a great gardener and cook.
Sounds delicious and looks yummy. I appreciate the recipes and helpful hints. I’ll try them.
I got my garden planted today. First one I’ve had by myself. Hope it makes well.
Edna, you are quite an encourager! Good luck with your garden…I hope it goes well too! Take care, Kelly
You are making me hungry, girl! Sounds yummy!
WAS, Anne, indeed it ’twas. Miss you, my dear.
yum
Mm-HMM!