Chicken and Wild Vegetables Broth

Chicken Broth made with saved chicken bones in the freezer, dehydrated curly dock, dehydrated plantain, fresh wild garlic, onion, green peppers from last year's garden and balsamic vinegar! Add salt to taste.  Just simmer 4-8 hours, strain and pressure can 20 minutes for pints and 25 for quarts at 10 lbs. It is a great way to use wild plants for vitamins and flavor.  You can use this as a base for soups, beans and stews!

Redneck Sweet and Sour Chicken with Wild Garlic

There are just some nights that you want to cook something easy.  I cook for six nearly every night. Granted, it is not a dozen and I really should not complain, but sometimes an easy recipe makes life, well, easy.  So in honor of easy, here is a recipe using wild garlic that I picked at Harlinsdale Park today!  Wild garlic is one of the wild edibles that is available in February in the South and adds great nutrition to any dish.  This is an amazing recipe that results in a sticky, tender flavorful chicken with very little effort.

I like chicken leg quarters because, basically, they are cheap (.69 per lb on sale) but you can use chicken legs or thighs.


Redneck Sweet and Sour Chicken with Wild Garlic

Wild Garlic

Ingredients:

10 lbs Chicken Leg Quarters (I used 10 lbs but expect to have left overs)
2 bottles Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce
Large handful wild garlic greens
garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Rinse and dice garlic greens. 

Grease two large baking pans.  Lightly sprinkle garlic salt on bottom.  Rinse chicken and place in pans.  Sprinkle garlic salt and garlic greens on chicken.

Pour Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce over chicken and spread out. 

 

Bake for 60-75 minutes or until completely cooked through.  If starting with frozen chicken, add 15 minutes.

I left my thirteen year old in charge of taking out of the oven while going to get supplies for science project so it cooked just a smidge too long but still turned out fantastic!

Recipe all together:

Redneck Sweet and Sour Chicken with Wild Garlic

Ingredients:

10 lbs Chicken Leg Quarters (I used 10 lbs but expect to have left overs)
2 bottles Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce
Large handful wild garlic greens
garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Rinse and dice garlic greens.  Grease two large baking pans.  Lightly sprinkle garlic salt on bottom.  Rinse chicken and place in pans.  Sprinkle garlic salt and garlic greens on chicken.

Pour Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce over chicken and spread out.  Bake for 60-75 minutes or until completely cooked through.  If starting with frozen chicken, add 15 minutes.

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea, also known as Creeping Charlie or Gill Over the Ground, is one of the first edible weeds of the season, first showing up in Middle Tennessee in February.  It is pervasive and the bane of many a lawn care company.  It is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), though it does not have a mint flavor.  The flavor is a mild cross between sage and rosemary.  My husband, not a fan of sage or rosemary, says it is far superior to those familiar herbs.  To get the full flavor, gather a handful and dice up and take a whiff. It is certainly a complimentary flavor in this dish.

Ground Ivy found at the woods at our local Franklin, Tennessee Recreation Center

Ground Ivy has a kidney shaped leaf with scalloped edges and a square stem (like all mints).  It has a purplish to blue flower that arrives in March.  It creeps along the ground as it grows and plants roots along the way which makes it difficult to eradicate. It thrives in shady and moist areas.  If you have it in your garden, it repels cabbage worms, cucumber beetles, and tomato hornworms.

Here’s fine rosemary, sage and thyme.  

Come, buy my Ground Ivy.

Here’s featherfew, gilly flowers and rue.

Come buy my knotted marjoram, too!

Roxburghe Ballads (1740-1804)

It has historically been used as a tea, as cooking greens and in place of hops for beer making prior to the 16th century.  Additionally it has a long herbal remedy history treating a variety of ailments including ringing in the ears, sinusitis, kidney disorders, indigestion, constipation, sciatica, tuberculosis and coughs. In large quantities it has been noted to be toxic to horses but no such reaction has been recorded in humans. Alternatively, it has also been recorded as being used as an addition to feed for livestock supposedly for good health and for increasing milk production.  Common sense requires anything remotely approaching excessive use is unwise.

Ground Ivy contains iron, potassium and vitamin C.  It also has tannins which give it a slight bitterness.  Laboratory and animal studies indicate that ground ivy may be useful for anti-inflammatory and antibiotic qualities.

This recipe also uses another early edible weed, wild garlic.  I discuss wild garlic and wild onion here.  Wild garlic is often confused with wild onion.  Actually it is more prevalent than wild onion and many who believe they are using wild onion are actually using wild garlic.  The way to tell the difference is wild garlic's stem is round and hollow, while wild onion is flat and solid.  Both are edible.  The main rule is that if it looks like and smells like wild onion/garlic, it is.  If it does not have a telling scent than do not eat it. It has been my experience that wild garlic shows up earlier in the spring than wild onion.

Wild Garlic at the Rec Center

Tourtière has traditionally been a French Canadian holiday pork pie. It is a comfort food with a unique blend of spices.  If you feel intimidated by the use of cloves and cinnamon in a pork pie, do not.  It produces a wonderful result. While I am not French nor Canadian, I love this dish!

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground pork
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground ivy, minced
1 teaspoon wild garlic bulbs, finely minced (about one large handful when picked)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into six pieces each
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock

Pastry for a double crust pie
1 egg white for glaze

Directions:

Wash and cut vegetables.

Wild Garlic

Wild Garlic Bulbs From Above Garlic

Chopped Ground Ivy

Combine all ingredients except pastry and egg white. Blend thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook until mixture is tender and moist, but not wet. Remove potato and mash with a fork. Return to meat mixture and mix well. Check seasoning.

Mixture Simmering for 30 Minutes

Remove Potatoes, Mash and Return to Mixture

Roll dough and line a deep 9 inch pie pan or cast iron frying pan with 1/2 of the pastry. Add the filling. Brush edges of crust with egg glaze. Roll out top crust and arrange on top. Seal, make vent holes to allow steam to escape and brush with egg glaze. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is browned.

Filling in the Pastry

Pie Before Cooking

Hot Out of the Oven!

Stolen by my son before I could eat it!

Recipe all together:

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground pork
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground ivy, minced
1 teaspoon wild garlic bulbs, finely minced (about one large handful when picked)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into six pieces each
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock

Pastry for a double crust pie
1 egg white for glaze

Directions:

Wash and cut vegetables.

Combine all ingredients except pastry and egg white. Blend thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook until mixture is tender and moist, but not wet. Remove potato and mash with a fork. Return to meat mixture and mix well. Check seasoning.

Roll dough and line a deep 9 inch pie pan or cast iron frying pan with 1/2 of the pastry. Add the filling. Brush edges of crust with egg glaze. Roll out top crust and arrange on top. Seal, make vent holes to allow steam to escape and brush with egg glaze. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is browned.

The Dandelions are coming! The Dandelions are coming!

With another winter storm barreling down on the southeast United States it is hard to imagine spring ever getting here!  Believe it or not, it just two short weeks we will probably see the first signs of plants returning to life. One of the earliest edible plants to arrive is the Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale. Of course you could be hip and run to Whole Foods and purchase the California grown greens for outrageous amounts of money, but why bother when you could practically walk the parking lot and pick them? It is so much more satisfying to find a nice field and collect them yourself.

The benefits of Dandelion are its abundant nature and that every part of it can be eaten. It is a good source of Phosphorus, Folate, Copper and Magnesium, and an excellent source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Iron, Calcium, Manganese and Potassium. It has been used traditionally in herbal medicine to benefit the liver.

Some of the more common nutritional uses have been the flower and greens in salads, the flowers for tempura, breads, jellies and wine, the greens as a pot herb, and the roots roasted for a coffee substitute. It makes one wonder why such a usable and available plant ever fell out of fashion? I suspect that its very abundance prevented its promotion in the super markets and with the public's increasingly distancing itself from the growing and producing of food, it has been forgotten. Now it is relegated to high end grocery stores as a novelty, sold to people who would not even consider picking it themselves.

If you plan on picking and using Dandelions, here is a couple of tips. Avoid any areas that may have been sprayed for weeds and do not pick next to roadways, train tracks or utility poles. Choose only the lightest colored leaves. The darker the leaf, the more bitter the flavor. Also, if you are using the yellow flower portion, remove as much of the green portion surrounding the yellow as it is bitter. It is easiest to remove it with scissors. A little green remaining is acceptable. If a recipe calls for a certain number of Dandelion petals, you must pick twice that amount in flowers. You may also be interested in know that jellies and syrups made with the flower surprisingly taste just like honey. The greens are similar to endive.

With Dandelion season just around the corner, here are some great recipes to try!

Dandelion Greens
 

Quantities of each ingredient based on availability and desired amount!

Ingredients:

Dandelion greens
bacon
salt and pepper

Directions:

Wash greens thoroughly and boil for 15 minutes.

While greens are cooking, fry bacon until it is crisp. Remove bacon and crumble. Drain half of the grease.

Add drained greens to pan and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve topped with bacon crumbles.


Scalloped Dandelions

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup packed chopped dandelion greens
1/3 cup minced onion
2 sliced hard boiled eggs
2 T bacon drippings
2 T flour
3/4 c water
2 1/4 c milk
3/4 t salt
1 T vinegar
2 t sugar

Directions:

Add bacon drippings to skillet and heat. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon while it's absorbed into the bacon fat, making a roux. Cook the roux for another 3-4 minutes, but don't let it brown. Slowly whisk in water, milk, salt, vinegar and sugar. Simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and add chopped greens, onion and eggs. Serve hot.

 

 

Dandelion Bread

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 cup sugar
2 cups Dandelion petals, green base portion removed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients, including dandelion petals. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just blended.

Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until done.


Dandelion Jelly 

 

Ingredients:

3 cups Dandelion petals, green base portion removed
3 cups water
6 cups sugar
1/4 c lemon juice
2 packages of liquid pectin (3 oz each)

Directions:

Gather the flowers and remove the green portion. You will need 6 cups of flowers to get 3 cups of petals. The easiest way to remove the green portion is to clip it off with scissors. A little green remaining is okay. Too much green will make it bitter.

Bring water to boil and remove from heat. Add flowers. Refrigerate overnight.

Strain liquid and add to pot. Add sugar and lemon juice and bring to a rolling boil. Add pectin and cook for one minute and remove from heat.

Pour into hot sterilized jars filling to 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims and add lids and rings. Process 10 minutes in hot water bath.

 

Dandelion Green Pesto

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Dandelion Greens, washed and chopped
1 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
6 T walnuts
1 1/2 t salt
2 1/2 oz Parmesan or Romano Cheese

Directions:

Add ingredients to food processor and blend. Store in refrigerator for up to four days or freeze up to two months. Ideas for use include serving with pasta, sauce over baked chicken breasts, pizza sauce, or with potatoes.

Cranberry and Juniper Glazed Pork Roast!

 

Juniper berries were the second wild edible I learned to forage.  They are a great addition to your kitchen seasonings.  They grow wild at our local Winstead Hill Park in Franklin, TN.  It is a rocky hill that over looks the area where the Battle of Franklin took place during the civil war.  There are numerous monuments to fallen Confederate generals.  The berry tasted slightly sweet with a distinct Gin flavor and a slight crunch. I gather them when I visit and keep a small bag of them in my freezer for recipes.

As you may know, Junipers are what gives the popular alcoholic beverage Gin it's flavor.  There are over 50 varieties of Juniper.  It is most often found as a shrub but can be a tree as in this case.  Junipers can have either pointy sharp branches or braided-like scale branches.  The berries are actually cones of the female tree and can come in different colors but most often blue.  I will call them berries for simplicity's sake.  My find was over 20 feet tall with braided-like scale branches and small blue dusty berries.  The white dust on the berries is actually yeast and can be used to make a yeast starter for bread.

Junipers in December.

The type of Juniper most often used to flavor Gin is the Juniperus communis or the Common Juniper.  It is usually found as a low spreading shrub and has needle-like leaves.  This was definitely not the trees I found.  So I was looking for a Juniper tree that grew naturally (not an unusual variety intentionally transplanted).  It also had to thrive on rocky hills.  I narrowed down the possibilities to Juniperus scopulorum (aka Rocky Mountain Cedar) or Juniperus virginiana (aka Eastern Red Cedar), two common Junipers found in the southeast United States.  Both are edible, but after closely studying the photos of the two, I believe the trees I found are Juniperus virginiana.  Go HERE for more descriptions of types of both of these trees.

There is one variety of Juniper that I found mentioned which is toxic.  It is the Juniper sabina.  It is an imported low-growing shrub and also known as a stink bush as it emits a rank odor when leaves are crushed.  It can be most commonly found in Europe and Asia.  The trees I found are not of this variety, but you should certainly confirm any that you find are not as well.

Juniper berries are considered a seasoning and a little goes a long way. It has a sharp clean flavor and goes well with meat, particularly wild game. It is also often found in many European dishes and was once used to flavor their beer. Cabbage and potatoes are also frequently seasoned with Juniper. It was used by ancient Egyptians, Greeks and native Americans for it's medicinal qualities. It has been known to treat numerous diseases such as indigestion, gout, urinary tract and bladder infections and inflammations, sore throat, and colds. It has diuretic and antiseptic qualities. It contains high natural insulin and is used as a topical medicine for skin problems such as acne and warts. It has also historically been used in traditional herbal medicine to stimulate menstruation and childbirth. Pregnant women should avoid it.

You can freeze them or dry them but the berries lose flavor the longer they are from harvest. Here is the recipe that I used which turned out great:

Cranberry and Juniper Glazed Pork Roast 

Ingredients:

1 pork loin
1 half pint or 6 tbsp cranberry sauce
1 tbsp juniper berries, crushed
1 tbsp port
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sprigs of fresh parsley and sage to garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.

2. Roast the pork following the instructions on the pack (depends on the weight). I roast my pork in an Emeril cast iron smoker which imparts a fantastic flavor and makes the house smell great, however you can just bake in the oven if you prefer.  For my roast to be completely cooked, I roasted it for 1 1/2 to 2 hours covered.

Pork Roast in Cast Iron Smoker.

Heating the cast iron smoker on the stove to ignite the wood chips placed beneath the inner pan. 

Once smoke begins on the stove, place smoker in the oven and roast.

3. Meanwhile, mix together the cranberry sauce, crushed juniper berries, port and seasoning, to taste.

Junipers

Crushed junipers with spoon and half pint of cranberry sauce previously canned.

Cranberry juniper sauce.

4. Around 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, spoon half the glaze over the pork joint, return the meat to the oven and continue to roast for the remainder of the cooking time.

Pork roast before glaze. Marks are from the cast iron lid.

Roast with glaze.

5. Transfer the pork to a warmed serving plate. Stir any meat juices into the remaining glaze, heat through and pour over the pork just before serving.

6. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and sage (optional).

Great Wild Game Cookbook!

I love to checkout gardening and cookbooks at my local thrift stores. Every once in a while I will come across a real gem. I have been looking for a wild game cookbook but never thought I would find one! This one, Hunting Rewards Members' Game Recipes, is excellent and I could not believe my luck. It covers a wide range of wild game with easy recipes and even has a section on smoking meat.  You can even find it on Amazon at a reasonable price. Check it out if you are in the need of a wild game cookbook!