The Earthy Delights Recipe Blog
Celebrating wild harvested, traditional & artisanal foods
If you like grilling, bacon and ramps (not in any particular order), then this recipe is aimed squarely at you. This unusual relish was adapted from a recipe by famed New Orleans chef & showman, Emeril Lagasse. We’ve made a few changes to the original preparation, but let’s give credit where it’s due. Think what you like about Emeril (and his signature “bam!”), but the man has some serious chef chops and his dishes are not only imaginative, they’re also based on solid …
When the weather takes a sharp turn toward the cool side, there is nothing more welcome than a bowl of hot, rib-sticking homemade soup. This hearty wild mushroom and barley soup is satisfying on so many different levels, that it just can’t miss. First, and perhaps most importantly, it delivers a great, big mouthful of robust flavor. How can something with just a handful of simple ingredients taste so great? Let’s give credit where credit is due: it starts with wild mushrooms. Mushrooms are known for their umami, a Japanese …
The days of boring burgers are over. The best tasting burgers begin with really good beef or bison, then add layer upon layer of savory ingredients to build a symphony of bold, harmonious flavors. Leaner grass-fed beef and bison naturally contain less fat than regular ground beef. Less fat is better for you, but it can lead to a drier, less flavorful burger. Our solution? Stuff those burgers with a layer of moist, buttery morel mushrooms! Nothing beats fresh morels, of …
The flavors of spring are delicate. The first tender emerging shoots and mushrooms usually don’t have the robust flavors of summer’s produce and need careful handling to bring out their best qualities. There are exceptions, of course. The first ramps of the year are thought by many to be the most potent and pungent of the season. But many other wild spring foods – morel mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, wild asparagus and the like – are best appreciated when lightly cooked …
Making risotto is a contemplative process. It’s not difficult; it just takes a certain amount of planning and time. Assemble your ingredients, heat the stock – then just stand at the stove and stir. The basic ingredients for risotto are simple. Rice and hot stock are essential; wine, butter and cheese are usually included too. Other ingredients – seafood, vegetables, spices and so on – will vary according to the recipe. Of all these, the most critically important element is the rice. The …
Fiddleheads taste like the woodlands in spring time – fresh, green and exuberantly wild. The flavor of fiddleheads is often compared to asparagus, artichokes or green beans, but such comparisons fall short. The truth is, fresh fiddleheads taste like nothing else. Only a few of the many species of ferns are considered to be edible and of those, only two or three are widely consumed. If the best known, and most eaten, is the Eastern fiddlehead, the Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia …
For the uninitiated, cooking – and eating – an artichoke may seem like a daunting task. The prickly, tough-textured outside of the artichoke doesn’t seem particularly appetizing at first glance. After all, the artichoke is a close relative of the thistle and shares many of its characteristics. But beneath the leathery leaves of the artichoke lies a tender treasure – the sweet flesh that covers the base of each leaf and, best of all, the large meaty base or “heart” …
Let’s just say straight off that this is not the classic version of Vichysoisse, the chilled potato-leek soup with its origins in the French cooking tradition. Instead, our version is a bit more of a backwoods country cousin, with its roots firmly planted in American soil. The origin of the soup known as Vichysoisse has been frequently debated. As the accepted story goes, it was created by French chef Louis Diat, at the Ritz-Carlton in New York in the summer …
It’s already November, well into the fall season. Depending on where you live, fresh produce from your home garden may be done until next spring. Thankfully, there are a few hardy radishes and the last scallions to be harvested from our garden which add some crisp texture, fresh flavors and tangy “bite” to this preparation. With the addition of a few foraged wild mushrooms, it’s enough to make a wonderfully earthy dish, featuring hearty Japanese soba noodles. Soba noodles are made with buckwheat, a …
Polenta is one of those dishes that is far too underappreciated. It’s humble stuff, made from nothing more than coarse ground corn. The most basic of foods, it’s both thrifty and filling. It’s also quick and easy to make. If you can hold a spoon and stir, you can make polenta. Polenta is folk food. It fed both the Native Americans and early European pioneers (they called it corn meal mush or “coosh”), who often enjoyed it with a generous slosh …