New Orleans Style

Eating plants on a Sunday morning

They say you can get anything you want to eat here in New Orleans, and I think it must be true.

Just listen to this story.

 
One day it was a sleepy Sunday morning. After Mass, we decided to detour instead of walking straight home. A little turn here and a little turn there and we were in the quaintest neighborhood of New Orleans. A dream café, I have to say. I would have thought I was in a paris bistro, even the waitress had that European flair (an exchange student at the university, as it turned out).

 
So anyway, can you believe they had Fiddlehead Fern on the menu. Such a rarity.

 
They taste like a combination of asparagus combined or mixed with artichoke. What could be more heavenly.

These in particular were delightfully small and young, which is of course how fiddlehead ferns should be eaten– very young. They were just lightly sautéed and this removed the bitterness that can be customary.

Bright jade green, and springy, even after cooking. They had no fuzzy brownish scales.

They were so delicious I ordered a second serving to take home. I think the secret was that they had been boiled ever so briefly at the beginning of preparation.
Then in the fry pan they were tossed with some butter and finely, finely chopped herbs.