dandelions

I've always thought it was a bit silly, and wasteful, that people spend so much time and effort manicuring their lawns. But ever since I realized the dandelion greens you can buy in the supermarket or that you see on menus at restaurants are the same as the ones you can pick from your backyard, I've been astounded by it. I live in an apartment, but that didn't stop me from picking my own dandelion greens from a patch of grass on campus.

For my first bunch I made pasta. I sauteed some onions in olive oil, added some garbanzo beans, cooked pasta and about 1 cup of the water from the pasta. Then I stirred in the dandelion leaves, some fresh oregano from my window sill, grated pecorino, and lots of salt and pepper. It was delicious!

The second bunch went into a salad, with homegrown sprouts. The recipe is very rough, because you could come up with hundreds of great variations depending on what you have on hand. I highly recommend keeping the avocado and some kind of seed or nut.

Dandelion Salad Recipe:

To each person's bowl, add the following:

1 handful baby spinach

1 handful dandelion leaves- well washed, dried, and torn into halves or thirds

1 handful sprouts

1 T fresh parsley leaves

1 scallion, thinly sliced

1/2 small head of radicchio, thinly sliced

1/3 cup orange bell pepper, chopped

1/2 an avocado, cubed

1/4 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

For the dressing (this should make a little bit more than needed for 2 salads):

Whisk together:

1 tsp good mustard

1 T apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

About 3 T olive oil - slowly drizzle in, while whisking, until you reach the desired flavor and consistency