Pickled Fiddleheads

With luck, I was the last person to get the remaining fiddleheads from the Ballard Farmer's Market. Next week, the fresh morels should be in! Check out the fresh butter too! I am trying to get one of the dairies at the farmer's market to sell cultured butter. Maybe, if enough people ask for it it they will start making it.

1 lb fiddleheads, cleaned
½ a clove of garlic per jar
1 sprig of fresh dill per jar
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 pinch of red pepper in each jar
1 pinch of whole black pepper in each jar
1 pinch of pickling spice in each jar
1 pinch of whole allspice in each jar
1 small cube of fresh ginger
1/2 lb shallots, sliced 1/8 inch thick
4 pint jars with lids and screw caps, sterilized


Pack fiddleheads tightly into canning jars, layered with shallots, garlic, ginger and spices.
Bring to boil water, vinegar, sugar and salt.
Pour over fiddleheads so that liquid reaches to within a 1/4 inch of rim, then secure lids and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.



You now must wait about 6 weeks for them to cure. I have had pickled Fiddleheads with Gravlax and creme fraiche and it is delicious. But, really any cured dish would be an excellent accompaniment to these pickles.

Chocolate Chip & Apricot Cookies

This is my very favorite chocolate chip recipe. It came from Rick Katz a pastry chef who lives in Boston. I guaranty they will only last five minutes. They are that good. I fiddled with the recipe a little bit. But really the recipe is Ricks. You got to try these babies!

2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of very finely ground espresso beans
12 ounce package of Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate chips
3/4 cup of dried apricots, you need to use the sulfured kind here
2 sticks of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of light brown sugar, it has to be light brown
3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar together and then add the eggs one at a time. Add all the other ingredients until well incorporated. Bake for 15 minutes. Rotating the pan several times to get a even golden color.

Abraco's Black Sesame Pear Tea Cake

When I came upon this recipe my mind went to Bilbo Baggin's party for Thorin and his band of dwarfs. It is really tasty and quite wonderful for any band of dwarfs. You will need the freshes black sesame seeds for this recipe. Take a look at my previous post for a source.

1/2 cup of unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups plus two tablespoons of all purpose flour
1 cup of almond meal
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup of black sesame seeds
1 1/3 cups of sugar
2 tablespoons of coarse sanding sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup of buttermilk
1 pear cut into 1/4 inch pieces

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

In a blender grind 1/2 cup of sesame seeds with the buttermilk. Set aside. Combine the butter and sugar in a mixer and cream. Now add all the ingredients except the pears and coarse sanding sugar. Hand fold in the pears. Place the batter in the loaf pan and dust with the sanding sugar.

Bake for one hour and forty minutes.

Watch to see it does not get to dark. You may want to cover loosely with foil to insure a light golden brown color.

This is Elizabeth Quijada's recipe at Abraco. I would love to sit down with her over a cup of cappuccino. This is one of the most original and creative recipes I have seen in a long time. It is really delicious a must try.