Dandelion Mine

November 7, 2014 8:49 AM

My delightful and delicious farm share provides me with a sizable bunch of dandelion greens every week. I'm looking for recipes that mask the bitterness.

I don't mind a bit of bitterness (I love most brassicas, including mustard, excluding broccoli rabe), but dandelion is too much for me.

I always remove the stems and blanch the dandelions in salted water. This makes the following palatable:
- creamed dandelions (a la creamed spinach)
- dandelions in a strongly spiced curry
- dandelions mixed with kale in a meat/bean soup with hot peppers and spices

What doesn't work:
- using either de-stemmed and blanched dandelions or straight dandelions sauteed with oil and garlic (as I do with kale, chard, collards and other leafy greens)

posted by carrioncomfort to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Best answer: There's an ancient Roman recipe for beans in a mustard sauce that is flavored with, among other things, bitter greens. The cookbook (Apicius), suggests rue, but that's hard to come by. Dandelion greens make an excellent substitute.

Here's one modern adaptation of the recipe. The author left out the greens because they couldn't find rue, but the greens are an important counter to the sharpness of the vinegar.

Anyway, the dish is quick to make with canned beans and very tasty. For maximum authenticity use fava beans, but large butter beans work very well.
posted by jedicus at 9:14 AM on November 7, 2014

I'm surprised they're even growing dandelion greens this time of year. Here in temperate California even they're considered a seasonal, early spring treat, and they aren't really bitter that time of year.
posted by small_ruminant at 9:19 AM on November 7, 2014

Did you try starting the greens in big pot of cold water when blanching them, then gradually letting the water come to a boil? I have done this with broccoli rabe in the past, and it removed a lot of the bitterness.
posted by Lycaste at 9:36 AM on November 7, 2014

Best answer: I like them like this, with olive oil, lemon and caramelized onions. The onions provide sweetness and the olive oil helps temper the bitterness. I might use twice as much oil as the recipe calls for.
posted by pullayup at 9:51 AM on November 7, 2014

Best answer: My usual method for bitter greens is to sauté in oil with an acid added once they wilt, then finish with a sweetener. Some combinations I like:

- lemon juice with maple syrup and/or brown sugar
- apple cider vinegar with honey and ground mustard
- red wine vinegar with balsamic vinegar and white sugar

I also tend to add crushed red pepper or other spiciness as my mood dictates. Basically it's about increasing the intensity of other flavors (sweet, sour, spicy) to complement the bitterness.
posted by contraption at 10:13 AM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I usually saute the dandelions and scramble with eggs. The eggs mitigate the bite a little bit.
posted by extramundane at 10:23 AM on November 7, 2014

Best answer: I love them with chickpeas and a sweet balsamic glaze. Caramelized onions and roasted root vegetables are also sides I really enjoy with the bitter greens.
posted by annaramma at 10:48 AM on November 7, 2014

Best answer: I often "cut" bitter greens with spinach or chard (which I love and are super mild/sweet), if I'm worried about their unmitigated bitterness ruining whatever I'm cooking. *shudders over the memory of a disastrous broccoli rabe strata*

You can saute onions, add cleaned/blanched if you like/chopped greens to the pan, and then mix the resulting tasty mix into:

mashed potatoes (serve as is with a pat of butter, bake with cheddar on top, use to top shepherd's pie)

ricotta cheese (use to fill manicotti, stuffed shells, lasagna, etc)
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:22 AM on November 7, 2014