Dandelions For Brunch?

Food

Aug 4

Yes indeed… dandelions for brunch or at any time of day, for that matter!

I am thrilled to be kicking off our first official food post talking about a green that continued to grow even though we did not have a veggie garden this year due to our construction.

Dandelions — those yellow flowers that many of us in the suburbs shudder at when they start to pop up in the spring into summer, worried their soon-to-be puff balls of seeds will sprinkle everywhere in our yard and in our neighbors’ yards creating even more. As Mike and I do all our weeding manually, I have spent many a summer afternoon on my haunches with my weeding fork fighting back the onslaught of these yellow and green soldiers invading our lawn.

They seem to really like the front yard and especially the parkway right next to the road. At times, given how many there are, as I am pulling one out after the other, I have wondered: “should we just spray something here?” But I quickly collect my natural gardening wits about me and dive back into my yard workout. Actually, Mike is right when he says one of my major contributions to the garden is weeding — when I am in the right mood, I can weed for hours, pulling thistle, dandelion, purslane, and any other green invader into our garden retreat. As a child who always stuck up for the underdog on the playground, I remember always thinking dandelions were actually pretty and wondered why so many adults thought they were a yard enemy. I fully came into my own on appreciating dandelions for just being themselves when my husband said “You know they are just plants, but we call them weeds.” And I realized that “weed” is simply a societal construct for plants we don’t want growing in our yards. Now when I’m in a weeding mode, I will always enjoy pulling them out of the ground because it’s a great workout. However, I was pleased to discover that dandelions are edible beyond dandelion wine.

Not sure when it started — perhaps when I realized that carrot tops are more nutritious than the carrot itself — but the foodie in me has also become passionate about using all parts of a vegetable. Perhaps the passion I’ve developed in the last decade for gardening and creating delicious meals from homegrown food has also awakened the spirit of the forager that we all share in our ancestral background. So as soon as I realized that all parts of the dandelion were edible, I thought: I need to give these plants a chance in my kitchen. These persistent plants deserve a bit more respect than the rip and toss treatment they get from me when I’m on a weeding tirade.

Foraging for the perfect dandelions next to our house under construction

Yes, you can put the leaves in a smoothie for a nutrition boost — I have a good friend who does that. You can throw the leaves of the young ones into a salad before they become bitter. You can sautee the greens with some yummy garlic. But what I really enjoy doing is making Dandelion Farro Tart. This is not my recipe but rather one I found on Prevention.com.

What I love about the tart is that it’s very simple to make, uses a plant that can’t stop growing in our suburban yards, and is absolutely delicious to eat. Dandelion does naturally have a bitter taste — a bit of a cross between arugula or some more bitter lettuce and spinach — so don’t skip the step of blanching the dandelions! Trust me - you will still taste the dandelion.

But after this part, it’s simply mixing it all together and baking it. And it comes out like a delicious and innovative quiche which could be served for any meal of the day. I think it’s the perfect star in a brunch paired with a salad, fruit, and something sweet. And if you have meat lovers among you, bacon is great on the side. For that matter, putting bacon in the tart could be a very nice addition as well. My good friend Basia and I have been imagining a sauce for this tart, and when we do, we will most certainly share. But I recently shared a piece with several of my neighbors, and one of them paired it with a roasted tomato sauce which sounded totally yum!

Let the recipe begin.

Dandelion Farro Tart

Ingredients:

1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
6 c. chopped dandelion greens (about one 8-oz. bunch) (As the dandelion is the star of the show here, I use closer to 7-8 cups of the green.)
1/2 c. farro
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
2 tbsp. fine dried bread crumbs (I like more of a crust, so I double this amount to 4 tbsp.)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped (Mike and I really enjoy the flavor of high-quality garlic, so I typically use 3-4 cloves; it really dials up the overall flavor experience.)
2 1/2 c. (24 oz.) ricotta (I typically use half whole milk ricotta and half part skim milk ricotta)
1/2 c. finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 egg yolks
1 egg
1/4 c. heavy cream

Directions:

Bring a medium pot of well-salted water to a boil. Blanch dandelion until tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a colander with a slotted spoon, reserving water in pot. Let dandelion cool; squeeze gently to remove as much water as possible. Fluff and separate leaves with your fingers.
Bring water back to a boil, add farro, and cook until tender and chewy, about 12 minutes. Drain and cool to room temperature
Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9" glass pie plate and lightly coat with bread crumbs.
In a large skillet over low heat, melt 2 tbsp. butter, add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in dandelion, farro, ricotta, Parmesan, 1 tsp. salt, pepper, yolks, and egg until combined. Fold in cream and transfer mixture to pie plate, smoothing top. Bake until just set and top is pale golden, 35-45 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.