RCP: Weed salad with apricots and goat cheese

Well,

Spring is finally here in NJ and my weeds are popping up all over. I thought I would post one of my favorite early spring salad recipes.

1 cup young Dandelion leaves
1 cup Chickweed
1/2 cup young Broadleaf Plantain leaves
1/2 cup Garlic Mustard leaves
1/2 cup of Dandelion buds
1/4 cup dried apricots
2 oz goat cheese
2-3 Tablespoons of your favorite vinegarette

Boil the dandelion buds in some salted water for about 4 min or until tender. Strain and run under cold water for a minute. Toss all the greens together. Slice the apricots into thin strips and add to the greens. Add the dandelion buds. Lightly dress the salad with the vinegarette and toss well. break apart the goat cheese and add to the salad.

I usually pair this with a NZ sauvignon blanc.

If you don't have access to weeds, you can substitute Endive, Frisee, and Boston Bib lettuce for the greens and boil some asparagus tips as a substitution for the dandelion buds.

Happy Foraging!

[Jenise]

Garlic mustard? Can't place any plant, weed or otherwise, by that name. Is it green or red?

Jenise,

It a type of wild mustard plant that is everywhere here in northern NJ. It's called garlic mustard because the leaves actually have a garlicky taste. It's really nice when sauteed and I have made mustard from it's seeds and horseradish from the roots. It is one of my most abudant weeds. Here are some pics of it:

The rosettes when it first comes up in the spring:


More mature plants:
[img]http://donwiss.com/pictures/F-2001-07-04/0008.jpg[/img]

The flowers:
[img]http://donwiss.com/pictures/F-2005-05-08/0043.jpg[/img]

The young leaves in the rosettes are round but the mature leaves are triangular.

Wow, those photos are hella helpful (besides being superbly done). Care to do some of the others? I have no shortage of weeds here, no knowledge of identification beyond "dandelion," and would love to know what's edible.

Stuart,

I wish I could take credit for those pics, but they are from my favorite foraging website:

http://foragingpictures.com/#E

Just click on the weed you want to see, and there are usually loads of great pics...the "Wildman" does a fantastic job indentifying lots of weeds that I haven't found in any books.

Mille grazie!

[Jenise]

Maria, what Stuart said: fantastic response! You know what, yesterday I was picking weeds around my own yard and wondering what, if any of them are actually edible. Prime on my list is something that has a soft, carrot kind of top, and comes out with a small multi-pronged tuber that smells EXACTLY like parsnip. It's hard (for me) to imagine anything that smells that good not being edible. I think I'll check your foraging site for it. In the meantime, if anyone knows anything about this plant, please respond.

Jenise,

That plant could certainly be wild carrot (Queen Anne's Lace), caraway, or parsnip. However, because there are 2 poisonous plants that closely resemble wild carrot, I do not to forage for them. The 2 poisonous plants are called Fool's Parsley and Poison Hemlock and look almost identical to wild carrot. Wild Carrot has a hairy-stem and poison hemlock does not and Fool's Parsley's flowers have additional beardlike bracts under it's flowers that the non-posionous plants do not have.

I would say that unless you can have someone positively identify your plant (maybe a Co-op or a local garden nursery) I wouldn't eat it as both the hemlock and fool's parsley are extremely poisonous!

I have been foraging for many yrs now and always stick with plants that have no poisonous imposters. I won't even eat plants that have parts that could be poisonous (like some plants you can eat the leaves but not the fruit...etc.) If the whole plant isn't edible, then I won't bother. I won't forage for mushrooms either.

I know you are in a different part of the US than me, but if you want you could post some pics of weeds, or describe them to me, and I can try and identify them. But I would say, have a professional identify your plant...you never know, you could have a whole garden of wild carrots growing in your backyard...that would be yummy!

Here are some pics...see how difficult it is to tell the difference?

Queen Anne's Lace (Wild Carrot)
[img]http://www.cincinnatinature.org/large_pics/queen-anne%27s-lace--daucus-c.jpg[/img]

Poison Hemlock:
[img]http://www.lib.ksu.edu/wildflower/wildflower/hemlock.jpg[/img]

Fool's Parsley:


Fool's Parsley again...see the beardlike bracts hanging off the flower:

[Jenise]

Maria, thanks for the pictures and further information. You know what, last year I received some flowers (from a florist) that had Queen Anne's lace in it just as one of this very 'weed' that had escaped my clutches was blooming in my garden. It was IDENTICAL. Not just close, but with the very same very small flower shown in your pictures. I remember thinking that if they're safe and pretty I should let them be. I completely forgot about that until now, though. Gosh, I'm so sorry I pulled those out. Hope more grow so I can identify them for sure. In the meantime I'll look into the local probability of the poisonous imposters. Thanks again.