The Endive Chronicles

  Photo Courtesy of Leslie Fearon

“Vorremmo due negroni per favore” was one Italian phrase I had no trouble with on our trip to Rome last November. There, we were met by our dear friends Leslie and Richard, who (lucky for us) seemed to have their collective fingers on the pulse when it came to Roman style refreshment. Our rather giddy friends met us at our hotel for dinner, fresh from a café on the Piazza Navona where they had just sampled this cocktail alla Romana recommended by Richard’s sister.

As soon as we cleaned our dinner plates we headed for the nearest bar to give it a try ourselves. We ended up at a pub with the rather humorous name, Druid’s Rock, that was covered from floor to ceiling with soccer pennants, scarves, and posters; I was pleased to be seated under the giant Y Ddraig Goch* flag of Wales.  Despite my amusement this didn’t exactly seem like the proper setting to try this Roman cocktail, but with a name like Druid’s Rock there was no way I was leaving. So we settled in and ordered our drinks.

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The creative process for this recipe began over two years ago when I came home from the Bayview farm stand with a bag full of corn. In it’s inception, this recipe was actually a salad. I ‘d had enough of the corn salads that were out there and while most were lovely they all seemed to mimic one another and not providing my pallet with the variety it so desperately craves.

I set the corn to roast, then foraged through my kitchen for ingredients. I found a bit of left over pancetta, a wedge of parm, shallots and a handful of basil from the garden. My salad was coming together. The combination was successful aside from being a bit on the salty side. So, I cut the salt out of the recipe, after all the parm and pancetta add enough salt on their own, but it still wasn’t enough. Next I cut it with a bit of watercress which worked quite well, but I just couldn’t leave this recipe alone, it seemed like a recipe that was only halfway finished. Then a few months ago as I was stirring up a pot of porcini risotto to fortify myself against the New York winter’s chill, it came to me, translate the salad into a summer risotto. Eureka!

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A few months ago Phil came home from work with a question; did I know of fiddlehead ferns? I didn’t, well not by name anyway. Phil had been discussing food with his boss, a fiercely proud Mainer named Dan, when the topic of fiddleheads came up. Apparently fiddleheads are abundant in Maine and foraging for them is a popular pastime. According to Dan, they are quite delicious sauteed in butter and finished with vinegar. I did a little research and found that I did know of fiddleheads, but mostly due to the fact that young ferns are growing everywhere around here. Although I was able to find abundant information of fiddleheads, I could hardly find anything on fiddlehead sources in Washington.

I knew this had to be wrong because if there is one thing we have in droves, it’s ferns*. Our forest floors, backyards and roadsides are covered with them. But I confess my knowledge of them is limited to the handy trick of rubbing them on the skin to relieve a nettle sting, (another plant of great abundance here in the great PNW). I’ve been keeping an eye out for these little green party favors ever since we moved back and I finally ran across them the other day at Uwajimaya. Needless to say, I loaded up.

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