I remember as a kid my grandparents had this long white, deep chest freezer that was in their basement with a single naked light bulb hanging above it. I imagined it would have been a good place to hide anything you never wanted someone to find. Inside the freezer were bags, and bags of tin foiled covered food that was older than I was. Layers and layers of freezer burned meats that had been on sale and vegetables from seasons ago. My grandparents grew up during the depression, so saving every last scrap of food was imperative to their survival even though they now were going grocery shopping every week. There was a an old metal coffee can next to the stove top for them to scrape their bacon fat into. And when it was full, it was placed carefully into that chest freezer in case the end of the world was tomorrow.
In their 'root cellar' were countless Bell jars full of preserves. I'm talking countless. Many shelves high and stacked to the back wall like a grocery aisle. I can vividly remember my grandparents working together like a machine to seal up jars and jars of pickles, beans, tomatoes, corn, everything from their huge garden every summer at their Winnipesaukee lake house. I don't know when they were planning on eating all that food, but it was there "just in case." It must of been done out of habit. I remember thinking that I was never going to waste my time preserving food, or freezing it. It seemed to silly when I could just go to the store and get a fresh rotisserie chicken, and a bag of pre-made salad.
I grew up on a dairy farm but was very uninterested in the business and concepts as a teenager. My mom spent hours in her gardens. She has the greenest thumb. She knows how to sew anything, cook everything and has a mean creative edge. I was never interested in what she was doing but certainly retained most of the information through what must of been osmosis.
I've come drastically far since I used to think those silly thoughts and now am more interested in all the things I didn't like as a younger woman. I don't know if it's part of my dna, or if all that work my family did in their gardens and craft rooms was imprinted onto me.
Because, I am in love with the idea of freezing food for later, canning for gifts, sewing, glue gunning, and stretching myself creatively.

I created this blog for my future and because of my past.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Spring fiddleheads, a recipe.



I always saw the spring fiddle heads in the grocery store each spring.  Road side farm stands would have their wooden signs out letting it be known that fiddle heads were "this way".  Up until recently I didn't do too much investigation into their flavor or how to cook with them.  It was a foreign concept to use something from the forest floor in my cooking.  Then I discovered this recipe, this simple, simple recipe and I'm going to share it with you.  It's four ingredients! Five, if you count the pizza crust.....

Ingredients:
Pizza Crust
Fiddle Heads
Alfredo Sauce
Pine Nuts
Feta Cheese

Follow directions on the pizza dough to cook this up.

First, choose your pizza dough.  I prefer the dough that's grocery store brand in those plastic bags in the deli section, the whole wheat one.  But you can use what ever you want.



Then, pick out your fiddle heads!  I grabbed about two handfuls and chopped them up.  You could certainly leave them whole and place them on the pizza like pepperoni.









I also buy whole feta and crumble it myself.  I find that by the pound, it's cheaper this way.  I just got the store brand.  You could also use goat cheese, but I find the feta has that zing to off set the Alfredo sauce where the goat cheese can make the pizza too creamy.









 Pick your favorite Alfredo!  I usually make my own, but I was in a hurry this day at the grocery store.  After taking this picture, I opted for using the "light" Alfredo sauce on my pizza.

Pine nuts.  Are.  Expensive!  I went to my local farmers market to pick up this bag.  It was $5.50!  Yikes!  I'm not sure if there's a cheaper way to obtain these - but if you know of one - use it.  I only used half this bag on the pizza.

Ta da!  I put the feta on last...and I used all of it!

Then just follow the directions on the pizza crust and bake it up!

Enjoy!
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