Dandelion Greens

YUMMY! My fave green... Cook em with pancetta, garlic and peperoncini in olive oil. Add in some soft cooked romano beans, or a good quality can (salt beans and water must be the only ingredients if using canned) with the cooking (or can) water. Cook til soft, tender and saucy. I like it with shaved parmigiano. The ultimate comfort food.....

I don't know if the greens you find in your desert garden are necessarily the ones you'd want to cook... I don't know that for sure of course... Stay away if the leaves are prickly. They get too tough and bitter.

I grew up with dandelion greens, but unlike everyone else i know who eats them, we ate them as salad. I think they're the absolute best salad green. They're slightly bitter, but not like chicory, which is way too bitter for me. I remember all the women in our (italian) family and our (Italian) neighbor's, each with a small sharp kitchen knife in hand, bending over in the yard and filling up their aprons - right there in our back yard in new england.

You have to choose the small and tender leaves, they used to cut them out of the lawn with the root attached (that's what the knife was for) and if i remember, they would wash these little plants with multiple leaves all attached (and they;re picked before the flower grows, so while still tender), and then dress them with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. Just simple like that (like all Italian salad dressing, the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper are poured directly from the bottles onto the salad, it;s not a "vinaigrette".

The flavor is just slightly bitter, just enough to freshen the palate after a heavy meal, like a digestive, and very tasty. (Perhaps growing in the drier climate of the desert, the leaves may be too bitter, i don;lt know, i'm talking about the new england variety, and it;s very humid there). For me it could be a meal in itself, with some fresh crusty bread to dip in the pooled oil and vinegar at the bottom.

I don;t pick them here because i donl;t have a yard, and Rome is too polluted to eat what grows in the fields and parks, i think.

I bet hard boiled eggs would go well in the salad, and maybe a couple of tomatoes too, but i loved them as is.

I ate all my dandelions

I once gardened in the abandoned back yard of an apartment building in San Francisco. The back yard was full of dandelions. I discovered that the young tender leaves were delicious in salad, and scavenged happily. After one summer, I had eaten all the young dandelions and pulled all the old ones. Next year, no dandelions. I was considering buying dandelion seed ... then I moved.

tender young Dandelion greens are great as a salad or breifly sauted with garlic, shallots and wild mushrooms.
My father used to roast the dandelion roots, then grind to a powder to make a wartime recipe coffee substitute. Tasted vile In the 70's why bother
We use the tender leaves in wraps with roast duck breast cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce, or in place of rocket (arugala) with Brie and cranberry wraps.

I knew about using chicory root for that - it was used here in italy during the war.

Wow, growing up I was taught to dig up and throw out any and all dandelions. That way, more inedible grass could grow instead!:bounce:

Salad greens come from the supermarket, which get their greens from the mega-farms.

Looking back I can't believe how backwards things can be.

Going through the local Whole Foods this afternoon, I noticed they were offering a large display of dandelion greens in the produce department. Not only do they have the greens, they have organic ones.

Maybe I'll try some.

Mike

In Greece dandelion greens and other weeds make up a huge portion of our diet. They are eaten almost with every meal. Here's a couple of ways to make.

Make sure you wash them really really well, keep soaking in water to remove all dirt. You'll also need a lot of dandelions for a serving. Think of them as you would spinach.

Boiled
1. In a stock pot stuff as many dandelions as you can. Then fill the pot with water, and place over high heat. Salt.
2. Boil until tender and then lift out of the water into a collander. Do not pour strait into collander!!!!! The broth from this is amazing! I put it in a soup cup, season, and drizzle a touch of olive oil on it. It's tremendously good for you.
3. Let the dandelions cool and then serve room temperature or cold with olive oil, lemon, and salt.
4. To make a meal out of it place a few whole peeled potatoes and whole zucchinis in the pot to boil with them.

Braised (Giahni)
This is the first meal I have to have when I step foot in Greece every year.
- 2 onions sliced
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- 4 large potatoes quartered
- 3-4 tomatoes chopped
- 2 cups cleaned snails (optional and easy to find frozen in mediterranean stores)
- freshly chopped parsley
- salt/pepper
- 1 cup olive oil (I like a lot to dip crusty bread in the sauce later)
- large batch cleaned dandelion greens

1. In a large pot (I use my creuset) sweat the onions, garlic in oil, then add potatoes.
3. Once the potatoes have warmed through add the tomato and sautee.
4. Add 1/2 cup of water, season, and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
5. Add the parsley and snails and stir through. Place the dandelion greens on top of the potatoes, season, and cover.
6. Do not stir. Allow the dandelions to steam until tender.
7. Serve with crusty bread - do not stir through.

There is a simple and good recipe for the Dandelion Green Salad...

Ingredients:

1 bunch dandelion greens, washed, drained and trimmed
3 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
1 handful fresh dill
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Making Process:
You just need to place all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss together. Now, it's ready to serve.

I grew up eating Dandelion greens. They were my all time favorite and we steamed them the same way we did Spinach or swiss chard. Put a little cider vinegar on them and they are TASTY!!!!

Do you add any sugar? I have found they can be a little bitter?

that looks more like a milkweed plant than a dandelion. Dandilion leaves are flatter with scalloped edges.

mjb.

Actually, having thought about it for a moment, that is not a milkweed plant either. I have seen such plants as the ones in the photo, but I don't remember what they are called, drat.

mjb.

Oops! Sorry Nicko, didn't see your question. No, I don't add any sugar. The beans and bean liquid are nice and mellow, the pancetta is sweet, and I try to use young tender dandelions, not the thick fuzzy ones that can be painfully bitter.

You don't happen to live near one of the old nuclear testing sites? Mutant dandelions :smiles: They are tasty in salads, I never use weedkiller on my lawn so they are organic. Had a bumper crop this year.

We ate 'em with a dressing my grandma made that my sister always called "weed gravy" .It was similar to a hot bacon dressing but had some flour and milk in it too. She always put that on endive also. I'll see if anyone in the family remembers how she made it. It was really good, a wilted salad type dish.