The Earthy Delights Recipe Blog
Celebrating wild harvested, traditional & artisanal foods
Pot pies are one of those secret guilty pleasures that we’ve all indulged in. I’m referring, of course, to those frozen blocks in the little foil pans from the supermarket freezer case. You don’t have to feel guilty about this pot pie though. Made entirely from scratch, it’s chock full of good, wholesome ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your fridge. It’s likely that the only ingredient you’ll need to buy specially for this recipe are …
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been enjoying the newest truffle on the scene, the Hungarian Honey Truffle (Mattirolomyces terfezioides). Of course, it’s not a “new” truffle – it’s been around forever, but it’s new to most American truffle-lovers. So far, we haven’t been able to find many (actually, ANY) recipes using honey truffles, either online or in our extensive cookbook library. What’s the solution? We create our own recipes, of course! We started by thoughtfully tasting a paper-thin slice …
Mention the word “truffle” in the context of dessert and most people would probably think you were talking about the round, chocolate confections that are so popular on Valentine’s Day. In this instance, we’re talking about real truffles, the kind that grow underground in association with the roots of certain trees. While the use of fungus-type truffles is certainly not unheard of in desserts, it’s honestly sometimes a bit of a stretch and frequently not entirely to everyone’s taste. But there is one little-known …
The wild huckleberry (Vaccinum membranaceum or Vaccinum deliciosum) is a tasty relative of the blueberry, but it’s much more elusive. In appearance, huckleberries are very nearly identical to blueberries, but they’re smaller and their flavor has an “edge” which is missing in domestic berries. The flavor of wild huckleberries, as is true of many wild things, is more complicated and less obvious than the flavor of their tame cousins. While a fresh huckleberry may look like a blueberry, it tastes a …
What’s in a name? In this case, an interesting (and amusing) story lies behind the name of this close cousin to the more familiar gnocchi. The Italian word malfatti literally means “badly made.” Whimsical names abound in Italian cookery, especially when it comes to pasta. For example, strozzapreti means “priest choker,” fazzoletti means “little handkerchiefs,” orechiette means “little ears,” and last but not least, farfalle meaning “butterflies.” In this country, malfatti have come to refer to something akin to a …
Here’s an interesting and tasty recipe that combines two of our fall favorites: wild rice and chestnuts. This satisfying dish is especially appropriate for festive holiday dinners, but it’s just as pleasing at any other time of the year. It’s inspired by a traditional Japanese rice dish, Kuri Gohan (literally, rice with chestnuts), but with a twist. North American wild rice adds a wonderfully chewy texture and nutty-woodsy flavor that harmonizes with the sweet chestnuts and toasted sesame seeds. While it makes a great side dish for any …
It is no dream… Matsutake are growing On the belly of the mountain – Haiku by Shigetaka There is something marvelous about the famous “pine mushroom,” the matsutake. Their distinctive spicy aroma and flavor are absolutely unique in the mushroom world. The exotic allure of wild mushrooms has inspired many poets across the centuries. No surprise, then, that the matsutake, so highly regarded in Japan, has inspired volumes of haiku. Equally inspired, David Arora, author of “Mushrooms Demystified,” described the …
Fiddleheads are one of our favorite wild spring foods. They look cool, but taste even better. In case you’re unfamiliar with them, fiddleheads are the tightly coiled emerging shoots of certain edible ferns, the choicest of which are the ostrich fern (Matteucia struthiopteris), frequently referred to as the ‘Eastern Fiddlehead.’ While there are a number of other edible ferns, the Eastern fiddlehead is arguably the best tasting and probably the most widely available, growing wild across much of the …
Fiddleheads are among the first wild delicacies to emerge each spring, slowly raising their tightly furled heads when the sun first begins to warm the soil of lowland forests, from the Great Lakes to the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Named for their resemblance to the carved end of a violin, fiddleheads have a deliciously intense flavor which has been compared to artichokes, green beans or asparagus, but which has a nutty, mossy quality uniquely its own. No other vegetable, cultivated …
Practically everyone has heard of ‘poppers’, the tasty little cheese-filled peppers that can pack a wallop of heat. It’s a fact – they make great party food or appetizers and are as addictive as potato chips. Since fresh morel mushrooms are in season, we thought, “Why not try a little variation on on the “popper” theme using morels?” After all, they’re about the same size and shape as chile peppers – and they taste great when fried. Well, to make …