daredevil, unnecessary worrier or just plain foolish?

in recent years, i've heard more

about fiddlehead ferns.

they were 

a green vegetable

a delicacy,

a foraged-for item with a small

window of availability.

but i had no idea what to 

do with them.

last spring, when basket-fulls

started popping up 

in the stores, i went home

to google them,

and find out what the deal

was with these 

mini coils.

what i read was scary:

stay away, they're poisonous,

they are a source of food poisoning.

so, i heeded the warnings.

this year, though, when they started to 

appear again, i was more rational.

would a large successful supermarket,

really sell baskets of poison?

would they knowingly

let people dig in and grab

handfuls, all the while secretly

rubbing their hands together

and laughing at

the travesty that would

take place when their

trusting customers

went home to serve

a new veggie

to their 

families?

i had also spoken to my

friend colleen, unaware of my

fiddlehead fern fear, who

told me all about the time she made

them. never once did she mention

anything suspect. i read more online -

some mentioning to stay 

away from the ones that 

were loosely coiled,

some mentioning it's best to boil well -

spoke to the produce guy who promised i 

would be safe and a chef i know

who said, brooke, they're delicious.

just cook them and eat them.

after a lot of reading, i decided

to go for it. not that i'm such a 

throw caution to the wind kind

of person. at all.

but i chalked up the fiddlehead 

warnings to be like the ones

that are always on the bottom

of the recipes for poached eggs

or a medium-rare burger,

when they warn you about

the possible problems

associated with

under cooking.

so, i took precautions.

i gave them a short bath,

rubbing away any outer brown

casings or dirt, i weeded out

the ones that seemed very

loose (i'm more of a tightly

wound kind of girl, anyway),

trimmed off the ends

and briefly blanched them.

after they were blanched,

i tasted one. articles

had described the fiddleheads

to fall somewhere between 

green beans, asparagus, artichokes 

and something.

it's that something that makes

them pop, add more

than just a cuteness to dish.

but, certainly, you have to like

green vegetables to think

that the ferns are something special.

one interesting thread

through all of the reading

was that fiddlehead fern season

perfectly coincides

with the season of morel

mushrooms. a very lucky match.

i'm a huge mushroom

lover, but morels can be very

expensive. the great thing, though,

is that they are so light and because a 

little goes a long way, you can buy

a small amount and still 

get the flavor and appearance.

my original plan was

to saute them together

to serve alongside chicken,

but the night got away from

me and frankly, i'm always half

thinking of an excuse to not

cook chicken, so instead,

i ended up tossing the

finished saute with 

basil tortellini.

it was a good choice.

they were very good.

and, while i was very closely

paying attention to larry and i

for the next few days

(he was unaware of the possibilities), 

neither of us

complained of tingly fingers,

headaches, or anything

else questionable. 

success.

unfortunately, three days 

later, after i had fallen asleep,

larry woke me up, loudly

asking, did you know that?

he was watching

andrew zimmern on

bizarre foods. andrew had just

started eating a bowl

of fiddlehead ferns prepared

at some fancy restaurant,

when he mentioned that 

you really should only eat 

certain kind of the ferns,

or risk suffering the consequences.

larry looked...worried.

oops.

fiddlehead ferns and morel mushrooms in brown butter

really we were fine. and honestly chow, epicurious, food and wine and many more, all talk about fiddlehead ferns. i would have to think that if they were really so risky, people would stop featuring articles. or at least include massive disclaimers, like sushi houses do with blowfish. i would absolutely blanche them for tenderness and more, and make sure to wash them well.

1/2 pound closely coiled fiddlehead ferns

1  1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped

1/10 pound morel mushrooms, quartered lengthwise

kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper

optional: basil tortellini

place fiddlehead ferns in a bowl; fill bowl with water. using your hands swish around several times to loosen any extra casings and to remove dirt and grit. if necessary, change water and repeat. instead of draining (and risking tossing the dirt back onto the veggies) remove fiddlehead ferns one at a time. trim ends. wipe away and dirt that remains.

bring saucepot of salted water to a boil. add fiddlehead ferns and cook 2 minutes, or until bright green and softened. drain and immediately run under cold water until cool.

in medium saute pan, melt butter on low heat. let butter cook 4 minutes, or until browned and smells nutty (this is best done in a pan that does not have a dark bottom so that you can accurately see when the color is changing). add shallots and mushrooms. increase heat to medium and let cook 5 minutes, or until the shallots are tender and the mushrooms are slightly crisp, stirring often. season with kosher salt. reduce heat to low and add fiddlehead ferns. toss constantly and cook 30 seconds or until just warmed through. transfer to serving bowl and season with kosher salt and pepper.

or, if mixing with tortellini: cook tortellini according to package directions. immediately remove from water with a slotted spoon and add to vegetables. gently toss to combine. sprinkle with grated parm.