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    Home » Wild Herbs and Spices

    Fiddleheads with Spruce Tips and Lemon Agrumato

    Published: Jun 10, 2016 Modified: Feb 15, 2023 Author: Alan Bergo

    Jump to Recipe

    Out of all the dishes I created for Slow Food MN's "Where the Wild Things Are" farm dinner, this was probably the crowd favorite, and is one of my all-time favorite spruce tip recipes.

    Fiddlehead, Asparagus Salad with Spruce Tips, Lavender Radish and Fresh Herbs

    The evolution of it was a little interesting. The hosts of the event looked at my original menu and suggested we add a vegetable side of some kind to appease vegetarians who would be at the event.

    At first I was going to do a warm side, similar to the vignarola I did a couple years back, but after considering the logistics of the event, how many people we would be serving, and how much burner/grill space we had, I changed my tune and decided on a cold salad.

    Chef Alan Bergo tossing salad at Piney Hill
    Photo: Arianna Skoog Photography

    At first it was to be asparagus, fiddleheads, snap peas, and fava beans. As luck would have it, we found out a week or so before that the produce wouldn't be ready in time from any farm in the area.

    We would have to stick with asparagus and fiddles, but the fiddle season had just ended. I sourced a couple pounds of fiddleheads quick and kept them under bags of fresh ice for a week.

    Fiddlehead, Asparagus Salad with Spruce Tips, Lavender Radish and Fresh Herbs
    Purple or pink winter radishes add a welcome splash of color here.

    I still wasn't happy with the dish though, and didn't know what it wanted to be. Cold food can be a hard sell, since flavors are muted when foods are chilled.

    The event was approaching quickly, and my salad for 120 people was flip-flopping in my head to something different just about every day.

    Spring Vegetables With Lemon Oil, Spruce tips and Mint_
    One of the original images. I've updated it over the years.

    The weeks before the event my staff and I made a couple different variations. What we settled on was a salad of vegetables, some raw, some blanched, tossed with lemon agrumato and fresh mint.

    If you've never had agrumato, or lemon oil, you should put it on your bucket list. It's typically olive oil made by pressing whole fresh lemons with the olives in the mill. It shouldn't be confused with lemon infused oil that boutique oil shops sell, which is worthless compared to the real deal.

    lemon agrumato
    The agrumato I'm using currently.

    I was happy with the salad, finally. While my staff and I were preparing the dishes at the event, an hour before we were going to serve I saw some of the spruce trees on the farm had perfect looking tips, and I knew they had to go into the dish.

    I tried a few to make sure they weren't bitter, then pulled one of my guys off of slicing terrines and cheese to grab a couple quarts of spruce tips from the trees for the salad. 

    I ended up liking it so much I made another batch for a luncheon the following day, switching up the vegetables a little but keeping the asparagus-radish-fiddle combo at the heart of it all.

    The spruce tips in the mix wake it up with a citrusy pop here and there, making an attractive, exciting salad.

    Asparagus Salad with Spruce Tips Violets and Chickweed
    An alternate spring version with violets and chickweed.
    Fiddlehead, Asparagus Salad with Spruce Tips, Lavender Radish and Fresh Herbs
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    5 from 2 votes

    Spring Vegetables With Spruce Tips and Lemon Agrumato

    Mixed spring vegetables seasoned with lemon oil and spruce tips
    Prep Time30 minutes mins
    Total Time30 minutes mins
    Course: Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Agrumato, Spring Vegetables, Spruce Tips
    Servings: 6 Servings
    Calories: 15kcal
    Author: Alan Bergo

    Equipment

    • 1 Medium mixing bowl

    Ingredients

    • 1 lb mixed asparagus, radishes and fiddleheads washed and cleaned
    • 1 cup young spruce tips picked over for any papery husk, washed if needed
    • Lemon Agrumato to taste
    • Fresh lemon juice to taste
    • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
    • Fresh spearmint to taste

    Instructions

    • Remove all of the asparagus tips. Cut ¾ of the remaining asparagus stems into ½ inch bias-cut pieces, then blanch until just tender, shock in an ice bath, drain and reserve. Blanch the asparagus tips for a few minutes longer than the stem as they take longer to cook. Slice the remaining raw asparagus ¼ inch thick and reserve.
    • Trim a few of the spring radishes and shave thin using a mandoline or a sharp paring knife. Small radishes can be quartered to add a bit of texture.
    • If using spicy winter radishes, like the watermelon radishes pictured, peel them down through the skin and white pith to reveal the center, then shave thin on a mandoline and cut into similar sized pieces as the other vegetables.
    • For the fiddleheads, bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil and blanch for 1.5 minutes, making sure the water comes back to a boil to ensure they're thoroughly cooked and to prevent them from turning black after cooling. Shock the fiddleheads in an ice bath, then drain well and reserve.
    • To serve, toss all of the vegetables, including the spruce tips in a mixing bowl and season aggressively to taste with the lemon oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh mint. Allow the mixture to marinate for a few minutes, then taste again just before serve, adjust as needed and toss again to coat with the natural vinaigrette that forms from the vegetables juice, then serve immediately.

    Notes

    All green spring vegetbles are welcome here, but don't miss the fiddleheads if you can, they soak up the dressing better than any of the others.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 4oz | Calories: 15kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 153mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 572IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 2mg

    More 

    Spruce Tips: Harvesting, Cooking and Recipes

    Simple Fiddlehead Fern Salad with Mint

    Classic Spruce Tip Syrup

    Fiddlehead, Asparagus Salad with Spruce Tips Violets and Chickweed

     

    « Knotweed Mousse Cake With Maple Buttercream and Wildflowers
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Colleen Allison

      April 03, 2018 at 7:33 am

      I love the ideas in this recipe, especially the young spruce tips. You don’t mention them in the directions, are the just added fresh at the end? Blanched?
      Thanks!
      Colleen

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        April 18, 2018 at 11:19 am

        The spruce tips get tossed in with the other vegetables, raw, if you cook them they'll lose their flavor. I adjusted the wording to be more precise, thanks for bringing that to my attention.

        Reply
    2. Katrina

      June 12, 2016 at 8:05 pm

      I love your use of the Spruce Tips. I believe they have great nutritional value. after all, the tree lives for many years. But, do you have any culinary experience with the new needles of the Bald Cypress? They have a lemony flavor with a touch of rosemary. Please share your thoughts...

      Reply
    5 from 2 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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