Actually, there are no, or almost no, dandelion greens visible in this picture - they're between the pancakes. But I liked the picture.
Today’s humble contribution to our weekly series is about a weed my father spent much of his life trying to eliminate from the yard, and which my husband and I now carefully water and encourage whenever one pops up. A large quantity of WFDs ago I mentioned dandelion greens in a comment, and there was a lot of “ewww” in response (and some oooo, too, to be sure). So, the greens are bitter; mostly, they’re not something I would think of just munching on. But I would also not take a nice mouthful of salt all by itself. The addition of a bitter taste can truly enhance the taste of a dish. I’m going to present Pita triangles with dandelion — or Italian chicory — inside; a stack of savory pancakes with bacon and dandelion greens between; a pizza I made up based on that recipe; and — the closest to munching the greens — a dandelion salad with anchovy dressing and croutons. The pancakes and the salad are both from Georgeanne Brennan’s Potager, for those of you who have it.
But first: I’m going to use only the greens from the dandelion plant. Perhaps you should all start by making some Dandelion Wine to enjoy while you read. Well, it takes a lot longer than that, but do see this WFD from yojimbo, from three years back (h/t ninkasi23 for the reminder). Dandelion wine uses just the flowers. I ran across other recipes, including this delightful blog entry, which recommends sending small children out to gather the pretty yellow flowers. Dad’s lawn may even have had enough of these to make wine. If only we’d known (before the weed killer, that is).
“Italian Chicories” can be used in place of dandelions.
On chicories: Mr pixxer and I were cruising the East Bay Nursery last year and he ran across a six-pack of “Italian Chicory,” and decided we should grow it. It persisted (yay!) over the mild Berkeley winter, as many things do. Some of these leaves look a lot like the dandelions you get in the store (which are huge compared to those in the yard) and we decided to try them in dandelion recipes. They worked great! The only recipe below I have not tried with Italian chicory is the dandelion salad.
Preparing the greens — for all the recipes below: If your dandelions are tiny, you can probably use the entire leaf. Wash and spin dry. Bought at a grocery store, the leaves typically are quite large and have central stems that need to be cut out. I like to wash and dry the leaves before stemming, b/c they are easier to wash in one piece, but YMMV. For all these recipes except the salad, I also recommend cutting the stemmed leaves into shorter pieces (less than 2”, say), so you don’t end up pulling out a long strand of dandelion when you take a bite!
Pita triangles (veggie)
The greens are hidden inside, with some scallions, sumac, and allspice.
Note: the plate is about 9” — a lunch plate, not a dinner plate.
I have more often used spinach in these triangles, but when I searched my dinner journal for dandelion recipes, this one popped up. It’s a great use of dandelion or Italian chicory leaves. This is a recipe from The Foods of Israel Today by Joan Nathan. This book, a gift from a former TA, is a reminder that, like the US, Israel is a nation of immigrants, and their food reflects that.
This recipe begins with making pitas. For the two of us, I make six pitas (half the original recipe); two I use for the triangles and four I cook as pita breads to use for dipping hummus alongside the triangles. It’s a wonderful dinner!
The pita part:
Mix 1 1/4 tsp (half a packet) yeast with 3/4 cup warm water and let stand till the yeast is dissolved, then add 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp olive oil, and mix. Stir in about 1 3/4 cups flour, then knead 10 minutes till you have a nice dough, adding in more flour as necessary. Let rise in an oiled bowl 1 1/2 hours or till doubled. Divide into six parts and roll into balls. Let rise 5 minutes under a cloth (I often let them rise a lot longer – as much as 20 minutes — don’t stress :). Roll out to 6″ discs (or larger, if you like). The recipe says to let sit 15 minutes, but I typically go ahead right away with the triangles, and let the four doughs destined to be pitas do some sitting.
From Restoration Hardware, back when it was still fun.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Use a stone of you have one.
The triangle part:
Small-volume measuring spoons:
- dash = 1/8 tsp
- pinch 1/16 tsp
- smidgen 1/32 tsp
For each pita triangle: brush the rolled dough circle with olive oil. Sprinkle on one smidgen allspice, and one pinch each salt and sumac. Sprinkle/spread/goop on 1 to 2 scallions (whole thing), which have been sliced and cooked in 1/4 Tbsp olive oil till soft. Mound up 1/2 cup or (preferably) more chopped dandelion greens, Italian chicory, spinach, or arugula (or a combination) and sprinkle a scant 1 tsp lemon juice over the greens. Moisten the edges of the pitas with water and fold into triangles, sealing the edges. Place on a tiny bit of corn meal on a pizza peel and place onto a stone in a preheated 500 degree oven. Cook about 10 minutes and then check for doneness – golden brown is good.
Molten greens are not good for the tongue, so I cook the triangles first and then let them cool slightly while I cook the four pitas. The pitas cook 3 minutes at 500 on a stone (no cornmeal needed). I think if they get golden they will be too crispy, so they need to be stopped before then. Serve the pitas with hummus, topped, if you like, with paprika, a few pine nuts, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Onion pancakes with dandelion greens and bacon
This shows the insides of the savory pancakes in the main photo, above.
This is one of those guilty pleasures. Butter and bacon. But wow, it is delicious! After doing the pre-prep, I like to have a teammate to work on three of the threads in the recipe while I make the pancakes, so everything is hot at once. But it can be done sequentially, or by a very organized cook.
A great cookbook!
The original recipe is from Potager by Georgeanne Brennan; this is my version for two people.
The recipe following this one is a pizza I made based on this recipe. The pizza is easier, but I think for sumptuousness, you can’t beat this original version.
Heat an oven to low temperature (200 or lower) for keeping the various pieces warm. I put the serving plates in there, as well as a plate to receive the cooked pancakes.
Preprep:
Wash and stem half a “bunch” of dandelion greens from the store; my notes say I have used 5 dozen small ones from the yard (there are a LOT of leaves on one plant). Thinly slice 1/4 cup scallions. Wash, dry, and chop finely 2 Tbsp parsley. Juice 1/2 lemon. When close to cooking time, melt 1 1/2 Tbsp butter in a small pan and let it cool slightly prior to mixing it into the batter.
Pancakes:
Mix 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp milk, 1 egg, and 1 Tbsp butter (above) that has been melted and allowed to cool before adding; mix 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl, then add this flour mixture to the liquids and mix well; add the 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions. (With practice, you may find you want to add a bit more milk to thin the batter.)
Scoop by 1/4 cupfuls* into a heated, lightly oiled (I use peanut) medium frying pan (I use 8″) and cook till bubbles form, then flip the pancake and cook the other side a bit, till done. I start this process at medium-high and adjust the heat as needed. It takes maybe 4 minutes or so to cook each pancake. (That is to say, for two people, this takes close to a half hour. That’s why you need a warm oven.) Place the cooked pancakes on a plate in the warm oven.
*This comes out to exactly six pancakes when I do it, but I typically add a bit of extra milk to thin the batter. Yes, I really should measure that and write it down...
Bacon:
Cut 4 pieces thick-cut bacon or more pieces (6?) normal-cut bacon in half crosswise, and cook carefully till perfectly done. You can put this in the oven to keep warm if desired.
Dandelion greens:
Steam the dandelion greens about 4 minutes – start the water after cooking 2 or 3 of the pancakes, so as to finish close to when the pancakes do. We just leave the pan closed, and the greens stay pretty warm for a few minutes.
Parsley butter:
Finally, melt another 3 Tbsp butter (I didn’t say this was health food), mix in the chopped parsley and the lemon juice. Ideally, you finish the pancakes right about now.
When everyone is ready to eat, remove the warm serving plates and pancakes from the oven. Place one pancake on each plate, top with two (or more if thin-cut) bacon pieces and 1/4 of the greens each. Place another pancake on top, top with the remaining bacon and greens. Lay on the final pancake and pour lemon-parsley butter over the top. Serve immediately.
Pizza with dandelion greens, bacon, and scallions
I go back and forth about whether to inundate the pizza with greens or to be more sparing. This is slightly less than I’ve typically used.
One diary I have considered writing for WFD is “pizzas I made up based on recipes for other stuff.” This is one of them.
Obviously, you need pizza dough. I’m linking the recipe I use, with special hints, in case it is of interest to anyone. Any good pizza dough will do, as long as it isn’t strongly flavored (I’m looking at you, Boboli). I make an extremely thin-crust pizza about 13” in diameter with this recipe. I’ve found the dough for one of my pizzas weighs just short of 7 oz.
Pick about 5 dozen 5″ dandelion leaves or use perhaps half a bunch from the store. Wash and stem them, then cut them crosswise about 3/4″ to 1″ long. If they’re from the yard, I give them a second rinse at this point. Spin the greens to start them drying, and spread on a towel to dry the rest of the way.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees, with a stone on the top shelf (or use your favorite method).
Cut from one to two thick-cut bacon slices into smallish pieces. Cook the bacon in a bit of olive oil (less than 1 Tbsp) for a couple of minutes, till thoroughly cooked but not very dark brown. Spoon the bacon bits onto a paper towel to cool and drain.
Slice five scallions, white and green parts. Take the leaves off several stems of parsley (chopping optional). Cook the parsley and scallions for 2-3 minutes in 2 Tbsp butter.
Squeeze 2 tsp fresh lemon juice, and mix with 2 more tsp olive oil.
While you pre-cook the crust 1½ minutes, grate about 4 oz part-skim mozzarella. You can do this earlier if you like, but spread it out so it doesn’t wad up and undo all your effort :) I often just grate it directly onto the pre-cooked pizza crust.
After pre-cooking the crust, I make an attempt to get butter from the scallion/parsley pan onto a brush to brush the rim of the pizza, but am typically only minimally successful at this. Top the pizza with 1) the grated mozzarella, 2) the parsley and scallions, in their butter, and 3) the cooked bacon bits.
Ready to bake: two iterations of this pizza, demonstrating that the amounts given are subject to whim.
Cook the pizza 4 — 5 minutes (till one minute short of done) at 500 degrees. Meanwhile, toss the dandelions with the lemon juice/olive oil dressing to coat them well. Remove the pizza from the oven, top with the dandelions, and return to the oven for another minute to wilt the greens. [I have also completely cooked the pizza, tossed on the greens without cooking, and drizzled on the lemon/oil dressing, but I think wilting the greens is preferable.]
Dandelion Salad with Anchovy Dressing
This is directly from Georgeanne Brennan’s Potager. Mr pixxer has made it, but I have not — just loved it. This recipe, unlike the other three, is not adjusted for 2 people; it says “Serves 4 — 6.”
Here is her description: “Salty, oil-rich anchovies are mashed with garlic and olive oil to form a thick dressing that makes a perfect complement to the rough, strong flavor of wild dandelion greens.”
First, prepare the croutons for the salad:
Cut 8 slices of inch-thick, dry French bread into 1” cubes. Neatness does not count. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 cloves garlic, reduce the heat to low, and saute the garlic 2 to 3 minutes. Add the bread cubes and cook slowly over low heat until golden and crusty, abut 4-5 minutes on a side [Wait… a cube has 6 sides…. I doubt you really have to cook on all six!]
When done, sprinkle the cubes with ½ tsp salt and 3 Tbsp minced, mixed fresh herbs — such as oregano, thyme, and rosemary, turn a few times in the pan, then drain and cool on a paper towel. Can be stored a few days in a closed paper bag.
Dressing:
In the bottom of a salad bowl [I expect Mr pixxer did this in a mortar] mash 6 flat anchovy fillets in oil (drained) with another 2 cloves of garlic, using a fork or wooden spoon. Gradually stir in ¼ cup olive oil, then add ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper.
Salad:
“Trim any woody stems off 2 bunches dandelion leaves, [about 3 cups, after this preparation] leaving only the tender leaves. If the leaves are large, cut them on the diagonal into 2 or 3 pieces, making sure each piece shows the deeply serrated leaf edge that is the hallmark of dandelion greens. Leave small leaves whole. Add the greens to the salad bowl and toss with the anchovy dressing till thoroughly coated. Scatter the croutons over the top of the salad and serve.”
I guess dandelions are part of the “if you can eat it, someone has done pretty much everything with it” rule. Here are some more links from around the intertubes, with recipes I haven’t tried yet.
Under “Dandelion recipes, the wonderful, edible weed,” almanac.com (The Farmer’s Almanac) offers some recipe links, and also tells us:
Native to Eurasia, this humble member of the aster family has traveled far and wide. Believe it or not, the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) was not always thought of as a weed. Cultures around the world thought of the dandelion as a “common herb” and have used every part of the plant as both nutritious food and powerful medicine.
The dandelion is rich in nutrients, including protein, calcium, iron, and Vitamins A and C.
Dandelion pesto is also offered by almanac.com (h/t nikasi23), and by David Lebovitz
Allrecipes points out you can fry the flowers “Appalachian style.”
And to round this all out, Ashley at Practical Self-Reliance (“an off-grid homesteader in rural Vermont”) says that to convince her daughter to pick those dandelion blossoms for wine, she promises also to make Dandelion Ice Cream with them!
So, tell us…
What’s For Dinner at your house?
Also, if you’d like to write a diary in this series (which posts every Saturday 4:30 PT), Kosmail ninkasi23, or reply to the comment she will undoubtedly post below, with available dates in the upcoming Saturdays.
![I Vaxxed! sticker with "Two weeks ago!" superimposed.](https://images.dailykos.com/images/928394/story_image/ivaxxedweeksago.jpg?1616180899 "I Vaxxed! sticker with "Two weeks ago!" superimposed.")
