Taste the woods of Maine with this sweet and savory open face sandwich full of local, seasonal ingredients such as fiddleheads, shiitake mushrooms, sourdough bread, and micro-greens.
Ingredient highlights
You know those funky, sometimes fuzzy, spiral headed stalks the pop out of the ground everywhere here in Maine mid-spring? Those are fiddleheads! The young shoot of a fern. The edible fiddleheads you’ll find in our store are of the Ostrich Fern and must be cooked before consuming. They’re very versitile, think of them like asparagus. It is highly recommended to boil fiddleheads prior to further cooking processes to ensure they are fully cooked. You can read more about fiddleheads and their prepartion needs in this article from Earth, Food, and Fire.
Mushrooms are one of those foods that people seem to either love or hate. Good preparation makes the world of difference for a satisfying mushroom experience. Shiitake mushrooms are best (in our opinion) thinly sliced and cooked in a pan with oil or butter first before further preparations. Ideally with some seasoning mixed in like garlic. Mushrooms are very absorbant and will quickly take on flavors when given a fat to soak it in through. Tip for pan searing mushrooms, cook in the oil for a few minutes with a lid on top to give them a bit of steaming to help maintain their moisture.
Miso Pan Seared Fiddlehead Sandwich
2
servings5
minutes15
minutes20
minutesAll the ingredients in this recipe can be found here at the Blue Hill Co-op, many of which are locally sourced from right here in Maine.
Ingredients
2 thick slices of classic sourdough bread
1/2 cup fiddleheads, chopped
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp butter or olive oil
1 tsp Miso paste
Handful pickled onions (red or sweet)
Handful micro-greens
Optional: Half an avocado, thinly sliced
Directions
- Prep
- Mince garlic
- Wash and chop fiddleheads to 1-2 inch long pieces
- Boil the fiddleheads for 5-10 minutes, but do not over boil or they will get mushy. Drain and rinse with cold water, set aside.
- Remove the stem and thinly slice shiitake mushrooms lengthwise
- Cooking
- Heat your pan to a medium level. Cast iron is preferred but any pan will work.
- Once pan is heated, add your butter or oil to the pan. Allow to warm.
- Add garlic and fully incorporate into the butter/oil. Allow to cook for 1-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant and beginning to brown. If the garlic starts to burn, remove your pan from the heat for 1-2 minutes and turn the heat to low.
- Once garlic is browned, mix in the fiddleheads and mushrooms. Let them sear in the butter/oil for 2-3 minute intervals between stirring. This allows them to slightly caramelize which gives them a richer, deeper flavor.
- As the veggies begin to cook down, mix in the miso (about 3 minutes into cooking the veggies). Be sure to evenly distribute the miso paste. Tip: if the paste is not incorporating well, try adding a splash of water to the pan. This can help thin and spread the paste.
- Sear everything in the pan for 5-7 minutes or until you are satisfied with their looks.
- Once the food is done cooking, remove pan from heat.
- Optional (but highly recommended): Place your bread slices onto the pan you cooked your food in to allow to toast for 2-4 minutes. This will hydrate the bread and give it a softer and lighter texture on the inside with a slight crisp on the outside. Alternatively, toast in a toaster or skip this step.
- Assembly
- Place your slices of bread onto a plate and smear the avocado across the surface of both slices. If you prefer to omit the avocado, you may also add a generous amount of butter or oil to the bread to give the sandwich some additional moisture.
- Next, add the pickled onions. We recommend just one thin layer of onions evenly distributed across the bread so as to not overpower the seared veggies.
- Then, pile on your seared veggies as much as you wish!
- Top with micro-greens and enjoy this savory, slightly sweet, earthy snack.
