Warm Tomato and Fiddlehead Fern Salad with Lemon & Anchovy Vinaigrette

Fiddlehead ferns are something I'd always wanted to try but I feared I'd never have the opportunity because they're a highly regional, seasonal item. I saw some (for growing, not eating) at a garden shop with my friend Laura and she said she'd had them many times because they're harvested in BC where she's from. I was jealous that she has had the opportunity to liberally sample a culinary curiosity of mine. A few days later, I walked into my regular neighborhood grocery store and they were selling them in the produce department by the clamshell! They were a bit pricey ($6 or $7 for maybe a cup and a half of ferns), but it was a small price to pay for these elusive (to me) plant morsels.

Once I had made my purchase I had to decide what to do with them. On the package was a warning issued by the Canadian Department of Health or something to make sure to cook the ferns very thoroughly. Apparently there are toxins and food poisoning agents that need to be boiled away for safe consumption. I have to admit the warning attracted me to fiddlehead ferns even more.

In the end I decided to boil the ferns thoroughy (for 15 minutes or so) and then roast them in olive oil with some cherry tomatoes and a clove of garlic. I am glad I boiled the ferns because even though I rinsed them before boiling, the water was straight brown after the boiling, leading me to believe that they had a lot of dirt in them, which I guess is natural if they were collected from the forest.

I roasted the cherry tomatoes and fiddlehead ferns just long enough so that the ferns would crisp up a bit from their boiling and the tomatoes would soften (about 15 minutes in a 450 degree oven). As they cooked I whisked together the juice and zest of a lemon, a teaspoon of anchovy paste, olive oil, and a little salt and pepper. Once the vegetables were out of the oven I coated them in this vinaigrette and Georg and I ate the salad immediately.

The fiddlehead ferns were sort of interesting, but sort of not...they had a texture similar to asparagus. The flavor was fine...actually I didn't notice anything all that unique about their flavor. It was pretty much like eating any other green veggie. I am still glad I tried them though. Georg was not fazed by the profusion of ferns on his plate; he ate everything right up without question.

The salad overall was excellent, though--although one could probably substitute asparagus or even zucchini with similar results. The lemon-anchovy dressing was fantastic and it was really delicious warm.