Red Currant and Lemon Balm Sorbet

This is a recipe inspired/adopted from this Red Currant Sorbet recipe. I've replaced the use of citrus with lemon balm, an herb widely grown in gardens and commonly found in the wild. It adds aroma and even more cooling satisfaction to this summertime treat.

I made this in tandem with red currant sauce, so I just drew off 250ml from the red currant juice I was going to use for the sauce.

Red Currant and Lemon Balm Sorbet

What You Need:

150ml water
140g sugar
1 large handful of fresh lemon balm
250ml of red current juice/pulp, strained

• Wash and de-stem around 1 quart of fresh red currants.


• Add the de-stemmed berries to a food processor or blender. Alternatively, you could use a large bowl and an immersion blender. Puree and then strain as much juice/pulp as possible through a sieve. Set aside.


• Add the water, sugar, and lemon balm to a medium pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes (covering keeps the essential oils from dissipating into the air). Once the sugar is dissolved and the sugar well dissolved, take it off the heat and allow to cool.


• Once the syrup is cool, strain off the lemon balm.


• Mix the syrup with the currant pulp a little a at a time—stirring and tasting after each addition. This allows you to control how tart/sweet the sorbet becomes. Any excess syrup can be used to make a refreshing drink mixed with sparkling water or added to tea, etc.


• If you have an ice cream maker you can use this to make the sorbet. Alternatively, you can simply pour the mixture into a shallow glass baking dish and pop it into the freezer. Take it out of the freezer every 15-20 minutes for an hour or so, stirring/grating each time with a fork to separate the ice crystals.

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Red Currant and Bee Balm Blossom Butter

A few years back, while at a wild food cooking class, I had the good fortune to take part in making a very beautiful and interesting butter with the flowers of Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa and M. didyma). After harvesting a large glut of this seasons Red Currants, I came across a recipe for Red Currant Butter, using red currant jelly. I thought, why not spice it up a bit and skip the jelly party, just using the more tart fresh fruit?

This admittedly pretty, but tangy, sweet, and slightly savory (from the background hint of spiciness of the bee balm blossoms) butter can be frozen for long term storage and is great served on anything that needs butter... And what's not better with butter? I can't think of many things.

Red Currant and Bee Balm Blossom Butter

What You Need:

1 Stick of organic (preferably grass-fed) unsalted butter, softened.
4 tbsp de-stemmed red currants
3/4 tbsp maple syrup
8 heads of Bee Balm
salt to taste

• First, pluck the feather blossoms off the bee balm flower heads. Try to only get the individual flowers and not so much green stuff...


• In a small bowl, crush the red currants with a fork until nice and juicy. Mix in the maple syrup.


• To the same bowl, add the softened butter and the bee balm blossoms—stir the whole lot until everything is incorporated.


• Taste, then salt to your preference.


• Plop the mixture onto a piece of parchment paper, shape into a roll, fold it up, and pop it in the freezer to harden up.


• Make a slice of sourdough toast, bring out the hardened butter from the freezer, slice off a (nice thick) round, smash it onto the toast and enjoy!

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Cornmeal Crusted Bass with Moscato Red Currant Sauce

Probably one of the most delicious and abundant wild food sources out there is fish. Every few weeks, a good friend of mine takes me out to a private spot where he shows me the in's and out's of fishing for the best of the lake fish of our region. The other day I came home with a whole mess of Large Mouth Bass filets, a basketful of foraged Red Currants, and whipped together this truly scrumptious meal. The tangy red currants, simmered in the sweet muscato, poured over the juicy, crunchy, spicy, and rich fried fish is such a treat.

Cornmeal Crusted Bass with Moscato Red Currant Sauce

What You Need:

Fish:
4 Filets of Bass
1/2 cup Corn Meal
1 tbsp whole wheat flour
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
3 tbsp butter
Sprinkle of paprika
Sprinkle of cayenne pepper
Sprinkle of salt & pepper
Sauce:
1 cup de-stemmed red currants
1/2 cup Moscato wine (or Riesling or your favorite sweet white wine)
2 tbsp organic cane sugar
2 tbsp butter

• Mix the dry ingredients together on a large plate or 4x8 baking dish. (Add paprika, cayenne, and salt & pepper to your preference—I like it spicy!)


• Beat the egg whites in a similar sized container as the dry ingredients.


• Put the currants,wine, and sugar in a small pot and cook at medium heat.


• Heat the butter in a large skillet or cast iron pan.


• Toss each filet first in the cornmeal mixture, then in the egg whites, then back in the cornmeal mixture.


• Once the butter is hot, plop in your crusted filets and let fry on each side until crispy and brown (about 5 minutes each side).


• While the fish filets fry, watch the currant sauce. Let it cook at a low boil so that it can reduce by the time the fish finishes up.


• Remove the finished fish from the pan and plate up. Stir the butter into the reduce currant sauce, then drizzle it on top of the bass filets and enjoy!

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Wild Amaranth in Sesame Ginger Miso Sauce

Admittedly, wild amaranth aka pigweed, is on the top of my most favorite all-around wild greens. They mimic most similarly cultivated spinach (of which they're a cousin) in texture, flavor and culinary application. This recipe was made with mostly wild amaranth greens, but with a few generous handfuls fo shepherd's purse and wood sorrel. Use your favorite wild greens.

Wild Amaranth in Sesame Ginger Miso Sauce

What You Need:

About 2 quarts of wild amaranth (or more, it'll cook down if you have 'em)
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup water
3 heaping tbsp miso
3 tbsp sesame seed oil (toasted is preferable)
2 heaping tsp fresh ginger, finely minced
pinch of cayenne
2 tbsp sesame seed

• Heat the butter in a medium skillet until melted.


• Toss the smashed garlic and minced ginger into the melted butter and let cook down until the aroma mellows and the garlic softens.


• Wash and drain the greens, then roughly chop. Toss them in the hot pan and cover with a lid to wilt.


• In a small, dry skillet, roast the sesame seeds at a low heat and stir often to toast them.


• While all of this is going on, mix the water, miso, sesame oil, and cayenne in a bowl until the miso is fully dissolved.


• Check the greens and stir. Once they have reduced in size by about half, pour in the sauce and toss in the toasted sesame seeds. Stir and allow to heat through.


• Serve immediately as a main dish, over rice or rice noodles.

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Herby Cattail Quick Pickles

Cattail shoots are almost made for pickle—they're crunchy, slightly cucumber flavored, and super tender and juicy. Following along with my newfound love for quick pickles, I decided to give this recipe a go. They're herby, slightly spicy, and really nice on their own for a snack or as a side dish for a 'plowman's lunch'. Feel free to use whatever fresh herb you have in your garden or whichever is your favorite. The Prickly Ash Berries are the native, wild cousin to the culinary Szechuan pepper. They're intensely aromatic, with strong notes of citrus and white pepper.

Herby Cattail Quick Pickles

What You Need:

1 cup peeled cattail shoots
1 cup vinegar (I use my homemade kombucha vinegar)
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp raw honey
1 scallion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1 tbsp Prickly Ash Berries (use Szechuan pepper if you don't have these)
Pinch sea salt
Pinch black pepper

• Chop cattail shoots into 1 inch pieces


• Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until mixed thoroughly. Taste and add salt, pepper and honey to taste.


• Mix everything together in a quart sized canning jar and pop the lid on. Shake it up and pop into refrigerator for at least 8 hours before eating.

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Sweet & Sour Burdock Flower Stem Quick Pickles

This recipes capitalizes on the juicy, crunchy qualities of freshly peeled burdock flower stems, and their earthy flavors pairs really well with the elderberry syrup, if you've got any on hand. I was inspired to make it by the Japanese tradition of quick pickling vegetables. It goes great alongside cheese and sliced salami, in a cup of miso soup, with eggs, or on top of a sandwich. It will also keep for a long while if kept cold, so feel free to double the recipe! And save that brine, it's great for making dressings or sauces.

Sweet & Sour Burdock Flower Stem Quick Pickles

What You Need:

About 6 peeled burdock flower stems
1 cup vinegar (I use my homemade kombucha vinegar)
1/2 cup water
5 tbsp elderberry syrup (or honey, sugar, or maple syrup)
1 scallion, chopped
1 tbsp crusdhed red pepper
A generous handful of fresh fennel sprigs
Pinch sea salt
Pinch black pepper

• Chop burdock flower stems to preferred size.


• Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until the sugar/syrup is dissolved. Taste and add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste (and sweetener, don't be shy to play around!).


• Mix everything together in a quart sized canning jar and pop the lid on. Shake it up and pop into refrigerator for at least 8 hours before eating.

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Burdock Flower Stems in Spicy Butter with Parmesan

While snacking on the tender, juicy, succulent flower stems of Burdock, I wondered, "What other vegetable does this taste a lot like?". I didn't really have an answer. Later on, I was doing some research on the harvest and came across a line that mentioned how in parts of Italy, families call this harvest "gardooni". There's a very popular vegetable in Italian cuisine called Cardoon—a close relative of the Artichoke—and a close relative of burdock. That's when it hit me... prepare burdock flower stem like Cardoon! So here it is...

Burdock stems are at their best in very early summer, a week or two before the flowers begin to mature. When they're ready, the flower stem will be soft and pliable, and will snap off cleanly. You peel off the bitter skin to unveil the delicious inner flesh that is sweet, earthy, and juicy.

Burdock Flower Stems in Spicy Butter with Parmesan

What You Need:

About 10 peeled burdock flower stems
2 tbsp butter
a pinch of chili flakes
2 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or any hard cheese)
A pinch of chopped parsley
Pinch sea salt
Pinch black pepper

• Heat a pot of water to a boil with a pinch of salt.


• In the meantime, chop the burdock flower stems at an angle.


• Crush the garlic and remove the skin.


• Heat the butter in a small pan. Once melted, add in the chili flakes and smashed garlic.


• When the water is at a rolling boil, drop in the chopped flower stems and boil for roughly 2 minutes. Check for tenderness ever 30 seconds.


• At the same time, stir the garlic around in the pan. Remove it from the pan after 5 minutes of infusing the butter. Set aside for another dish or compost it.


• When the flower stems are perfectly tender, remove them from the water and add them to the pan of butter. Toss in the grated parmesan and stir to heat the whole mixture through.


• Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve immediately.

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