La Vida Locavore

All of the food trends these days are for the slow food movement and eating locally (although with the economy in the dumper, we may see a resurgence of the 1970's ground beef cheap recipes). And I'd love to eat more locally grown food, but Las Vegas isn't exactly a mecca for agriculture.

I do grow my own herbs and tomatoes in the spring and summer, but the winter chill (yes, I know it's going to be in the 70 degree range for the next couple of days, but there was a chill in December) killed the more delicate herbs like my prized basil. I will be doubling the size of my 'farm' this year so I can have even more tomatoes, more herbs and possibly some micro greens. I am also going to try some recipes for making my own ricotta and mozzarella cheese. (Mostly for the experience, although my mother dreams of owning goats and making our own artisanal goat cheese. Don't ask me why, it's her dream.) I love artisanal and small batch products because I think there is more care and quality, but there is also a higher price tag, so making my own or growing my own is both fun and economical.

I read an article in this month's Bon Apetit about foraging. Apparently this segment of the locavore movement encourages you to go out and forage for your food, much like our non-agrarian gathering ancestors. So people go off in search of wild berries, mushrooms and the like in their local forests or fields. Cool, right? Except, wait, no forests or fields in Las Vegas. So where could I forage?

How about my yard? Easy to get to, no weird critters hanging out. We have had a lot of rain lately so there are lots of green things sprouting up. So I checked. Lots of wild mustard, which is rampant but unfortunately not edible, except the flower and I've never been big on eating flowers. Lots of grass but I don't think it's wheat grass and I don't have a juicer anyway. Hmm, there are some dandelions. I've heard of people eating dandelion greens and making dandelion wine. So I looked it up and it turns out that the entire dandelion plant is edible (the roots have medicinal uses) and that wild dandelions are as safe to eat as cultivated ones as long as no pesticide or herbicide has been sprayed on them. So I went and plucked a lot of dandelion greens. Some were huge, almost a foot in length, so I picked those and left the smaller plants alone. Into the house for a good wash and spin in the salad spinner. Now what do I do?

I love greens. Love them. Collard greens, mustard greens, kale, I like them all, although my favorite is collard because it's pretty mild. I like them cooked all sorts of ways, in soups, salads, stir fries, etc. I have even made the PERFECT greens recipe (it's going in my cookbook so I don't want to put it online but if you would like it, email me and I'll send it to you) that is so good, we gobble them up. I made them Monday and they were eaten in a flash. But I had never made dandelion greens so I had to look it up to see how to prepare them. Most articles said they were a lot like spinach but with a bit more 'bite". I found them very mild. so I just wilted them and glazed them with a bit of my 1-2-3 dressing. (Equal parts mayo, sugar and vinegar. I used red wine vinegar last night, but it can be made with any vinegar and it is so simple yet so delicious and light). My mom was a bit leery of eating the greens even though most had come straight from my garden (apparently when I turned the earth where my basil was I made a perfect spot for dandelions to grow.) But after showing her online sites testifying to the safety of dandelion greens and proving that it was indeed a dandelion I picked, she chowed down too. I told my mother she didn't have to eat any, but my grandma was actually really excited to eat them because she ate them a lot as a child, when growing up in the country meant always foraging for greens, huckleberries, wild rhubarb and such. Well, let me say, the dandelion greens were quite tasty. So good in fact, that when I joked with my mother this morning that she seemed alive and well enough after eating them, she asked if there were any more outside. I said I left some smaller plants and she told me to check the side yard too. I guess she liked them after all.

So, do you have some dandelion 'weeds' just growing in your yard? Try them, they are really tasty. Go forage some. It's about all the foraging I can do, at least until our mulberry tree starts setting fruit. But maybe if it rains some more, I'll go mushroom hunting...just kidding, I'm a foodie but I'm not that crazy!