The other night my sister, Arielle, and her boyfriend, Jeremy, came over for dinner. They love to cook, as do I. They planned the menu; all I had to do was supply the greens, beans and mushrooms. Really? That’s it? Ok!
When cooking dinner, most people bring their ingredients from a grocery store in a shopping bag – not Arielle and Jeremy. Arielle came in with a woven basket filled with dandelion flowers and nettle. Jeremy carried a few containers filled with different vegetables and one bag filled something covered in dirt, but I wasn’t sure what.
Once they unloaded all of their goodies onto my kitchen counter, I was able to see that I had a really exciting meal ahead of me. They brought dandelions and violets picked from the wild, and horseradish, asparagus, spinach and nettle from their garden. The horseradish was what was covered in dirt.
These pictures are nettle. You can see that they have little stingers on them, and if you aren’t careful, the plant can sting you. Actually, the stinging is a good thing – not like being stung by a bee or jellyfish. Nettle is effective in treating arthritis, joint and muscle pain and inflammation. It also increases circulation and contains vitamin C and iron. You can drink nettle as a delicious herbal tea. We cooked it in a stir-fry with black beans, onions and mushrooms with some spices. Very yummy!
This is what horseradish looks like (below) before it ends up on your plate. Who knew? I didn’t. I honestly had never thought about what horseradish looked like before arriving at the grocery store or my plate, usually during Passover. Horseradish is a great diuretic and since it is a heat producing food, it is good for muscle stiffness and pain relief. It also contains vitamin C. We made horseradish hummus! That’s right, hummus! Rich and creamy hummus with a little bite – I still have some leftover in my refrigerator and I savor it.
Unfortunately we did not measure anything out for the hummus. We had to taste and tweak as needed, but I can tell you that the ingredients we used were chickpeas, tahini, extra virgin olive oil, horseradish, apple cider vinegar and a bit of water. What can I say? Sometimes you need to put your measuring cups to the side and interact with your food! It felt good to live dangerously!
So you must be wondering, what did we do with the flowers? Well, many flowers are edible, including those weeds most of us try tirelessly to get out of our lawns, also known as dandelions. We used the flower petals to make bread. And it was delicious. Next time you are weeding your lawn, consider baking bread when you’re done! The violet leaves we dipped into the horseradish hummus, which was delicious and refreshing.
Here is the recipe for the dandelion bread.
Ingredients:
1 cup dandelion petals
2 cups flour (we used almond flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ cup coconut oil
1/2 – 3/4 cup honey
Directions:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees
Grease bread loaf pan
Put petals in food processor and blend
In medium mixing bowl, mix ingredients together with spoon
Pour batter evenly into pan
Bake until edges are golden brown
Allow to cool completely before serving
This isn’t the first time I’ve written about eating locally grown food. It is important for so many reasons. To read more click here. However, this is the first time I’ve written about eating foods that grow naturally in the wild. Arielle and Jeremy opened my eyes to foods I never considered eating before, and for that I am grateful. I look forward to our next dining experience.
that dandelion bread looks so creative! i would never have thought of that either, but now i know what to do if i get ingredients like that from my farm share this summer. thanks, penina!