The Endive Chronicles

This week like so many around the globe, I have been spending my evenings glued to my television watching the Olympic Games. Despite all the scandal, the gymnastics commentators and the fact that I don’t have a sporty bone in my body, I love the Olympics. Most specifically swimming and diving.

Wednesday night we prepared ourselves for an evening of Phelpsian glory, with Phil in charge of the aperitif while I tossed together a few nibbles. Our aperitif was composed of a local Riesling by Holy Cow, cut with local sparkling water by Cascade Ice, it was incredibly refreshing in this 90 degree heat. I made Clotilde’s Dusoulier’s zucchini carpaccio with delicious homegrown zucchini given to us by Phil’s friend Dan (thanks Dan!), pairing it with fruit, cheese and of course my crispy melon cups.  While everything was delicious, the melon cups were the gold medal winner that evening.

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The sun baked streets offer little respite from the unforgiving sun beating in the sky. I seek sanctuary in the shade of a nearby tree before continuing on with my journey. My mouth is parched as I stagger onward to the market contemplating a new home for myself in the freezer aisle.

In other words dear readers, it is hot and my stove and oven are going to remain in the off position. At times like these I need to get creative when it comes to dinner and that creativity usually comes in the form of a meal comprised of several simple no-cook appetizers. Today I will share two of our favorites with you; Zucchini with Serrano Ham and Bleu Cheese Prune Bites.

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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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