Spring brings with it Dandelions + Recipes

Never-mind that dandelions are thought of by most as a nuisance, for me, their arrival are cheerful, welcome signs of spring.

Beyond their many medicinal benefits, they also have culinary integrity.
A week of gathering young, tender dandelion greens and flowers yielded edibles from my kitchen, and a few cheerful accessories.

For all recipes, *BE sure to ONLY consume foraged vegetation from areas that you KNOW have not been chemically treated.

Dandelion and Dill Bread
(Adapted from Fork and Flowers Nettle Bread Recipe)

Ingredients
600 g flour
1 tsp. salt
10 g fresh yeast
400 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp. sugar
100 ml olive oil
15-20 rinsed and dried off dandelion flowers heads
2 tbls fresh chopped dill
1 tsp. maldon sea salt
*makes two loaves

Method
Combine the flour and salt in a bowl.
Put the yeast in a container with lukewarm tap water, add the sugar, stir well to dissolve, and let sit for about 10 minutes.
Make a well in the flour, pour in the yeast mix, cover lightly with a bit of flour and let sit again for 10 minutes, until bubbles form.
Begin to knead, adding 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Knead the dough either with a mixer or pour out on a table and knead by hand for 10 minutes.
Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour until doubled in size.
While the dough is rising, remove the petals from cleaned and dried dandelion flower heads, being careful to only use the yellow petals.
After the dough has risen, knead in the dill and petals, leaving some whole flower heads to press in on top.
Half the dough into two equal parts and with floured hands shape into balls.
Preheat the oven to 220 c / 430 f. Place the breads on a baking sheet lined with parchment, brush with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle liberally with maldon sea salt.
Let the breads rise again for 15 minutes.
Reduce the oven’s heat to 180 c / 360 f. bake the breads for 20 to 23 minutes.
Let cool, but serve slightly warm – with the dandelion butter.

Honey/Dandelion Petal Butter

1/2 lb unsalted butter – softened at room temperature.
Add one tsp of honey, and the cleaned and dried petals from about 5 dandelion flowers.
Mix and let sit at room temperature for at least an hour.

Dandelion Flower Fritters
(Adapted from The Daily Spud’s Recipe)

The trick here is to remove as much green material from the dandelion flower head as possible, while keeping the flower head intact. The green parts lend bitterness, while the yellow flowers are mild-tasting and faintly sweet.

Ingredients
approx. 20 dandelion flower heads, stalks and extraneous green parts removed
olive oil for frying
2 tblsp almond meal
pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of dried thyme
pinch of dried mint
1 egg, beaten

Method
Rinse and dry the dandelion flowers..
Place a frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add a thin layer of oil to the pan.
In one bowl, mix together the almond meal, s/p, and herbs.
In a second bowl, the beaten egg.
Dip the flowers first in the beaten egg and then in the seasoned almond meal.
Fry in batches, stalk side up, for around 3 minutes or until golden, being careful to not overcook.
Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Dandelion & Mushroom Fritatta

Start with your favorite fritatta recipe, and add cleaned dandelion greens and flower heads (as much of the green in the stem removed), and mushrooms of your choice.

Dandelion Chips

Forage, wash and dry young dandelion greens yielding enough to fill a sheet pan with for one serving.
Add the leaves into a bowl with a generous splash of olive oil and gently massage.
In a preheated oven of 400 f, heat the sheet pan until hot.
Remove, carefully, and add the dandelion greens on the pan, laying them flat.
Sprinkle with sea salt and bake until the leaves crisp up – about 10 minutes.