This post is a bit delayed in arriving, with photos from late May. As a follow-up to Costa's A Taste of the Wild Side posts I brought a few unusual ingredients together for a meal. It's too late in the season now for harvesting young knotweed shoots and dandelion greens but hopefully you'll still be inspired to seek them out next year. Stir-fry is so versatile that you could adapt this same recipe when zucchini is in season and use other locally available greens instead of dandelion and knotweed. This sauce is a good mask for any veggies that are on the bitter side. The codfish I used was locally harvested and then frozen before I got it. Freezing fish is a great way to keep it preserved for quick meals year-round. Take it out of the freezer the night before you want to cook it and thaw it in the fridge. Check out our recipes section for more ideas on what to do with local fish and greens. I harvested the dandelion greens and knotweed locally and was given the frozen codfish earlier this year, so this was a very affordable and healthy meal with a lot of new and interesting flavours to liven up my springtime table.
Wild Food Stir-Fry
Serves 2 people, with leftovers
- dandelion greens- a medium sized bowl full
- knotweed- about a dozen young shoots
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 zucchini
- a few handfuls of mushrooms
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce, or to taste
- 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 3-4 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1.5 cups rice noodles, pre-cooked
- Toasted sesame seeds or ground peanuts to garnish
Rinse the dandelion greens and knotweed shoots really well in cold water right before use. Chop up the knotweed into bite sized pieces. Remove any tough stems from the dandelion greens. Steam the dandelion greens and knotweed together until they soften. Once they're soft, put them into a heat-safe bowl. Sprinkle on the sugar and mix it in with the knotweed and dandelion greens. This will help remove some of the bitterness from the plants.
Chop up the mushrooms bite sized. Chop up the zucchini into small discs. Dice the garlic small.
In a wok or deep frying pan heat the sesame oil on medium heat. Stir in the peanut butter, garlic and sweet chili sauce. Add in the zucchini and mushrooms. Carefully raise the heat slightly if needed and stir-fry the vegetables for a few minutes until they are coated in the sauce and soften.
Add in the knotweed and dandelion greens.
Finally, add in the pre-cooked rice noodles and stir-fry everything for 1-2 minutes until warmed and mixed together well. Turn off the heat and take the pan off the burner to cool slightly before serving. Serve garnished with toasted sesame seeds or ground peanuts.
Baked Cod
Serves 2 people
- 2 cod fillets
- olive oil
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
Place each cod fillet onto a large piece of tinfoil. Drizzle them lightly with olive oil on both sides. Sprinkle them lightly with salt and pepper on both sides. Wrap each fillet up in the tinfoil like a parcel. Place those on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 375 C for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
