wild alaska! stinging nettle pesto

Behold! The delicious, if not tricky, stinging nettle plant.  Tasty little sucker!

It's springtime in Alaska!  Here in Juneau everything has come back to life from the rainy, dreary, soggy wet days of "winter."

(I refuse to acknowledge that we actually had winter when I barely saw traces of snow.  Winter my left toe, Mother Nature.)

I've well-documented my excitement for foraging here on the blog-- PEOPLE, IT'S FREE FOOD-- but Juneau, with its lush rainforests, is a mecca for a forager's soul.  Fiddleheads!  Devil's club buds! Fireweed shoots! Nettles!

Who needs a garden?!

With my trusty sidekick Milo at my side, we set out to gather our bounty.  And by we, I mean Milo explored the wilderness and picked a fight with a whippet while I did all the actual work.  We each have our roles, I suppose. 

Milo: Slacker.

I found an avalanche shoot not too far from where we live and the nettles were in abundance!  Making sure to wear gloves (their sting is not harmful but hurts like a mother), I picked two heaping grocery bags full in no time.

There are so many ways to use nettles.  They just need a quick steam, sauté, or boil to nip the sting.  You can use them in soups, frittatas, or substitute them just about anywhere you use spinach.  They're my favorite spring edible.

With such a huge bounty, I settled on making a pesto.  While there are loads of recipes on the internet for nettle pesto, I settled on this one from Persephone Farm in Washington State.  I loved it!  I will say that I didn't adhere to the recipe entirely.  Perhaps an extra garlic clove and a bit more squeeze of lemon made it into my pesto.  I think it's  best to make the recipe, taste it, and then add to it what you like to please your taste buds.  Maybe you want a little extra parmesan or a dash more of salt?  Go for it!

(And for more information about stinging nettles, check out this page from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.)

Stinging Nettle Pesto

1/4 pound stinging nettles (weigh them dry!)
1-2 garlic cloves (depending on your taste)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or to taste)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes, or until they turn lightly brown (being careful not to burn them like my first batch. Oops). Set aside.

Set a large pot of water to boil.  Gently boil the nettles for 1 minute.  Drain, then place immediately in a large bowl of ice water (this will set the pretty green color and stop the cooking).  Drain in a colander.  Use clean paper towels to squeeze out as much water from the nettles as possible.

Place all ingredients in a food processor, and whir up until smooth.  Adjust ingredients to your liking (I like extra garlic and lemon) and season with salt and pepper to taste.  

Spread on toasted baguette, homemade pizza, or toss with pasta.  This pesto freezes well, too!

Enjoy!

xo h

chicken with morels, rhubarb galette, pickled hatch chilies, and a long overdue post!

Fall has arrived in Alaska.  I love this time of year.  The mornings are crisp and cold, the leaves are beginning to turn, and my flowers are just about ready to call it a season.  

It was a doozy of a summer.  The weather in Alaska was nothing short of spectacular.  Seems like wherever I’ve been (which feels like EVERYWHERE this summer) the sun was shining and the berries and mushrooms have been plentiful. Life has been very good, if not very, very busy.

Lobster roll nirvana

My summer has largely been spent getting from Point A to Point B.  From Barrow to Sitka, from Bethel to Delta Junction, and a few stops in between.  I even snuck down to the lower-48 for a spell (where I located a delectable lobster roll in Minneapolis.  MINNEAPOLIS- of all places.  Who knew?!)  In fact, I'm writing this post as I'm flying the friendly skies back home.

Like so many other folks, my summer got away from me and my life refuses to slow down.  As I was picking the last of the plump raspberries off the plentiful bushes that line my backyard, I suddenly realized that as my life seems to have evolved this year, so must my little blog.  Finding time to cook is not a problem.  Cooking is my therapy after a long day on the job.  For me, it’s like breathing and sleeping.  And without it, I’m just not me.  

But finding the time to write recipes, take photos (which for this amateur blogger is not an insignificant amount of time), and publish new posts has proven a bit more difficult.  So I’m just going to improvise!

Oh, I’ll still post recipes and pictures- don’t you worry.  Some of the recipes will be my own, but many may just highlight recipes that I’ve tried and loved and want to share with others. My pictures may not be as carefully staged and styled to perfection, but they'll still be my own.

This summer in Alaska has truly been a delicious one, and I wanted to share some of its culinary highlights.  It began on a foraging expedition with friends Renee and Michael for wild morels. I posted last year about my foray into mushroom foraging.  After last year’s beginners run, I was totally excited to tackle fungi foraging this summer.  And I’ve done so with gusto!  

Wild morels- one of my favorite adventures all year!

Creamy chicken with morels, photo by Renee

Morels are a tricky mushroom.  Prized by chefs for their earthy, meaty flavor, they’re also fairly elusive to foragers unless you know where to look.  A brief internet search will tell you that they thrive in sparse forests recently struck by wildfire.  They only grow in springtime, so get out there early next year.  They.  Are.  Worth.  It. 

My friend Renee is a fabulous home cook, who's  culinary skill and technique exceed my own.  The woman is stealth in the kitchen.  We turned this incredible bounty of morels into a truly astounding dish: Creamy Chicken with Morels, (recipe courtesy of our guru Ina Garten).  My mouth still waters thinking about that meal.  I cannot wait to hunt for morels again next spring!

While I was home with my family in Fairbanks for Fourth of July, my sister Holly and I threw together this Rhubarb Galette, courtesy of our pal Martha.  It has a cornmeal crust that is TO DIE FOR and comes together very quickly.  My only modification is that I swapped out half the ice cold water for ice cold vodka, because I’ve learned that it makes a flakier crust.  Just trust me on that (or don’t, and Google it for yourself!)

Rhubarb galette with a cornmeal crust.

Juneau was chock full of salmonberries this year (Juneau friends— is it like this every year?!)  I’ve said before, but it bears repeating, that I have a nearly insatiable enthusiasm for foraging wild edibles.  It's difficult to locate my "off" switch when you turn me loose on a berry patch.  I located these jewels in a friends backyard.  While I was excited at the idea of converting them into jam, the delicious treats didn’t make it through the night as we gobbled them up like candy.  Not quite too pretty to eat!

SALMONBERRIES!

One of the very best parts of my summer was spending time in Bethel with my friend Valerie and her beautiful family.  Valerie and her Yu’pik ancestors have been harvesting the land in Western Alaska for thousands of years.  Val taught me the traditional way of processing and smoking wild salmon, just as her mother Tilly taught her, and Tilly’s mother before her.  Just look at the beautiful salmon in her smokehouse!

My happy place: smokehouse on the Kuskokwim River

With the swift work of her ulu, Valerie quickly processed the salmon we caught by setnet.  My job was to tie up the strips of salmon to hang in the smokehouse.  I’m proud to say that I excelled at this task.  I tied up salmon LIKE IT WAS MY JOB.  And it was…for two whole hours.  I ate so much smoked salmon that weekend that I nearly made myself sick.  Zero regrets.

Working through our bounty in Bethel.

A trip to Sitka last month resulted in a BOATLOAD of winter and golden chanterelles.  I was excited to learn how to identify them easily so that I know what to look for on future expeditions.  My friend Heather’s adorable mother Benny was totally thrilled to share her love for mushroom foraging with others, and was the ultimate host.  She turned our bounty into both mushroom quiche and cream of chanterelle soup.  HOLY DELICIOUSNESS, BATMAN.  Sadly, I don't have pictures of the food because I was too busy stuffing my face (along with her homemade biscuits- we ate like champs).

Wild golden and yellowfoot chanterelles foraged in Sitka

Milo's version of "blueberry picking"

Of course, no summer in Alaska is complete for any forager without taking a hike up a mountain for wild blueberries!  

Just like last summer, my friend Erica joined Milo and I for a bit of hiking and a lot of picking.  Last year I posted this tasty recipe for blueberry cornmeal cake, which I love.  I think this year I might make blueberry jam with my bounty.  If so, I’ll post it!



Last year I posted a picture of some pickled Hatch chilies that I made and enjoyed all winter.   Another shipment just landed in the grocery stores here in Alaska and several of your have texted me for the recipe.  I just put up another batch last week, and here's the recipe I used.  I eat them with my Taco King takeout so I feel like I'm getting a few veggies as I scarf down my carne asada special tacos.

Pickled Hatch Chilies

This is just a scattering of my summer food adventures.  I plan to make jams for winter soon, and pickle a few more veggies to eat all year round.  I'm even going to take another stab at perfecting rhubarb ketchup- and if I succeed, I'll post it!

Alrighty, Alaska...bring on winter! 

xo h

wild alaska! hunting for edible mushrooms

My enthusiasm (read: obsession) with foraging has not abated, despite the falling leaves and crisp autumn temperatures here in Southcentral Alaska.  Despite many years of fishing, clamming, picking berries and other wild Alaska edibles, one edible in particular has eluded my harvest: mushrooms. 

 

I've been intrigued with the idea of hunting for wild mushrooms for years, but I thought I would need to hunt alongside an expert so that I didn't, well, DIE from ingesting a poisonous mushroom.  As my Dad is fond to say, "Have you read the book 'How to Tell Mushrooms from Toadstools' by the late Dr. Johnson?"  Sigh.

 

Still, I wasn't entirely deterred.  I read books, pamphlets, and numerous articles on the internet.  I kept thinking, "I can do this on my own, right?"  And then THIS happened:

 

King Bolete/boletus edulis/wild porcini = delicious!!!

I picked the most perfect, beautiful King Bolete you ever saw a few weeks ago in the Alaska wilderness.  A boletus edulis according to my mushrooming friend Laurie Constantino.  The problem was, I didn't know it at the time.  I had a hunch, but didn't feel confident enough just then.  I took some pictures, admired the pretty mushroom, vowed to check with friends when I returned to an area with cell service, and chucked it in the woods.  CHUCKED IT IN THE WOODS.  Like a piece of (completely compostable and Earth-friendly) trash.  It was only later that I discovered what I had found.  And I was crushed.  Devastated.  Sickened by what I had innocently done.

 

And so, I vowed to make up for my rookie foraging mistake ever since.

 

Since then, I've scoured my books and the internet for articles about mushrooms.  Online articles by local foragers Laurie Constantino and Natasha Price have been immensely helpful, and I've relied on them heavily.  I've also used this booklet on Alaska Mushrooms by Harriette Parker, as well as this online pamphlet from the USDA. 

 

I've decided to heed the advice of my friend Laurie and avoid any mushrooms with "gills."  Edible gilled mushrooms, where the underside of the cap looks similar to fish gills (just like your typical button mushroom or Portobello mushroom from the grocery store), are tricky to spot in the wild.   Instead, I've focused on two edible varieties that are the easiest to identify and the most delicious:  king boletes (which have a sponge-like texture under the cap and a smooth stalk, as pictured above) and puffballs (which must be creamy white all the way through in order to be edible- no spores!)

 

I've been out and about in the forests near Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Denali hunting for these tasty edibles and found dozens of beautiful mushrooms along the way.  I even discovered a few edible Alaskan scaber-stalk boletes in the woods behind my old elementary school, which I cleaned up and sautéed with butter, garlic, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme from my garden.

 

 

I ventured out last week in Anchorage in the rain with my friend Dave Waldron from Alaska Public Media.  (Check out the article and the radio segment here!)  We had a great time tromping along the soft, mossy forest floor looking for edible mushrooms.  Pickings were slim, but we spotted these puffballs and a soggy lil' bolete.

 

  

There are seemingly endless varieties of mushrooms in Alaska, and even if I can't eat them I can't help but admire their beauty and individuality.



DON'T EAT THESE!  Just admire the bounty. :)



If  you are brave enough to venture out on your own, I URGE you to exercise caution and check out the links I've included in this post, as well as doing your own research.  I do not claim to be an expert- far from it.  I'm an amateur forager eager to share my experience with others!  Foraging for mushrooms on your own is doable, as long as you arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible.  The window for mushrooms is coming to a close, but I plan on venturing out this week to see if I can spot any gems.  In the meantime, I've searched the internet and found some delicious recipes that I hope to try with my bounty.  Fingers crossed!

 

• Wild Mushroom Pasta Sauce, Laurie Constantino

 

• Fresh and Wild Mushroom Stew, New York Times

 

• Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms, Food & Wine

 

• Baked Lemon and Thyme Mushrooms, Simple Provisions

 

• Baked Eggs with Spinach and Mushrooms, Smitten Kitchen

 

• Mushroom Lasagna, Ina Garten

 

 

Happy foraging!

 

xo H

 

wild alaska! blueberry cornmeal skillet cake

I have a massive issue when it comes to foraging.  Some would call it my gift.  Others (like my berry-picking friends) would call it my curse.  You see, deep in the incomprehensible double-helix thingy of my DNA structure, I have an unmistakable gene for hunting and gathering.  I LOVE it.  But not in the way you love your favorite sweater or lasagna on Fridays.  I mean, I love foraging in a way that were I left to my own devices I would gather to my heart's content and never come home.  You would find me 4 days later up on a mountain picking berries happy as a clam but desperately needing a shower.

 

As I've said before, I don't have an "off" switch when it comes to foraging.  Which is one of the main reasons I always bring a friend with me whenever I embark on my little gathering excursions.  Because someone has to be there to make me stop.

 

I'm not sure exactly what it is that drives me to harvest Alaska's wild bounty.  I suspect it's a mixed bag of reasons, one being simply: FREE FOOD.  But it's roots are much deeper than that.  There is something so satisfying about hitting the jackpot and discovering a trove of currants, or that Devil's Club buds are at the perfect time for harvesting.  And I wouldn't engage in a single foraging expedition if the results weren't also delicious.  I am continually amazed at the plentiful variety of edible plants growing in our own (enormous, massive, breathtaking) Alaskan backyard. 

 

I also believe that I'm most at peace in nature.  And we have a lot of that in Alaska.  I mean, just look at the scenery from the berry-picking expedition with my friend Erica from last week!

This blueberry skillet cake is nearly fool-proof, which is perfect for those of us that are slightly baking-impaired.  It comes together in very little time and I love bringing the whole skillet to the table for serving.  Delicious with homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, it's also perfect on its own and makes a great breakfast treat.  Lately, my taste buds have been craving desserts that aren't super sweet, and this cake fits the bill.  It's not nearly as sweet as your standard cake, which is due in part to our tart Alaskan blueberries.  I've made it with raspberries from my backyard and it's slightly sweeter, but equally delicious.

 

And so, I encourage everyone to get outside, pick some berries.  And see if the foraging bug bites you, too! 

Alaska Blueberry Cornmeal Skillet Cake
Serves 8-ish (Adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 large eggs
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1 extra tablespoon for skillet
2 cups Alaska blueberries (fresh or frozen)**

(1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Whist together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk just to combine.

(2) In a 10 inch oven-proof skillet (I used my trusty Lodge Cast-Iron), place one tablespoon of butter in the skillet and pop it in the oven until it's melted and the skillet is hot (3-5 minutes).  Take the skillet out of the oven and swirl the butter to coat the bottom.  Pour the batter into the skillet, and scatter the blueberries on top.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar.

(3) Bake in the middle of the oven until it is golden brown, about 40-45 minutes.  Let cool before slicing it.  This is great served either warm or at room temperature. 

**Substituting Alaska raspberries for the blueberries is equally delicious.

Enjoy!
xo h

wild alaska! devil's club buds



We all have our quirks.  Some wear an apron while they cook.  Others enjoy Cheez-Its with their PB&J's.  Some still drink Shirley Temples when they're 36.  Many say we "collect" kitchenware as a hobby to cover for our kitchenware hoarding problem.

 

Whatever...they're quirks!  They make us unique, right?!  (Don't judge- Cheez-Its and PB&J's go together like peas and carrots, just trust me.  Also, I own 4 colanders if you need one.  I wish to God I was joking.  I am not.) 
 

Freshly harvested Devil's Club shoots

One quirk I embrace: I'm a forager, and I embrace my inner hunter & gatherer.

 

Now, by "hunter & gatherer" I don't mean to conjure up an image of me in an Elmer Fudd hat with a 30-06 slung over my shoulder ready to field dress a moose.  Although let's all take a moment and do that right now.

 

That was fun. 



Shoots after they've been blanched in boiling, salted water and "shocked" in an ice bath

No, by hunter & gatherer, I mean I am a woman who enjoys nature's edible bounty in all its forms.  Fish, shellfish, game, and lately wild edible plants.  I mean, they're free!  More importantly, they're delicious!!  Now admittedly I'm still a novice at foraging for wild edibles, although my foraging roots for Alaska's wild seafood go way, way, way back.  (And as my friend Mera reminds me, teeters on the edge of obsessive.  As I like to put it, I have trouble with my "off" switch when it comes to foraging.) 

Currently, my wild edible plant repertoire consists of young cow parsnip (delicious roasted), fireweed shoots (similar to asparagus, and can be eaten raw), fiddleheads (total pain in the a** to clean, but broke down and picked some last weekend-- they're butter, garlic, and lemon's BFF), stinging nettles (just picked last night, still not sure what to do with them), and my favorite so far: Devil's Club leaf shoots, or buds. 

 

Devil's Club grow all over Southcentral Alaska on many of my favorite trails and hikes.  When fully grown, Devil's Club is a nasty, horrible bane of a hiker's existence.  But when they are buds an inch or two long, they are a tasty, delicate treat.   To me, they have notes of pine, mint, parsley, and resin.  I absolutely love it and have never quite tasted anything like them.  Because of their incredible flavor, they're well worth the effort to harvest!

 

 

I learned a lot about foraging for Devil's Club buds from an article written by Laurie Constantino.  Wear long sleeves and plants when picking these suckers.  While the shoots are soft, their thorny stalks are not so tread carefully.  Pick shoots 1 - 2 inches long, when the buds are tender and their spiny undersides are still soft to the touch.  USE GLOVES! (I learned this seemingly common sense lesson the hard way.  OUCH!)  Simply grab the bud, bend it down, twist, and it comes right off.  Discard the inedible outer brown sheaths, wash in cold water several times, blanch in boiling salted water for a couple minutes, and plunge into a cold water bath.  Drain and they're ready to eat as is, or to use in any culinary creation you can dream up.

 

 

The first time I ate Devil's Club buds, I simply tossed them with olive oil, salt and lemon after blanching them.  They were delicious!  I still think this is my favorite way to eat them.  I also added curry one time and while it turned out great, the curry flavor was too strong for the delicate flavor of the buds.  In my recipe below, I find the fennel and dill pair wonderfully with the piney/resin-like flavor of the shoots.

 

I hope you head out and find some buds- the short spring window is about to close!  You can still find many buds at higher elevations around Southcentral Alaska.  Happy foraging!!

 

 

 

Devil's Club Buds with Fennel and Dill

 

(Adapted from Laurie Constantino)

 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 large fennel bulb (or one small), cored and thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

pinch of Aleppo pepper (optional)

3 cups Devil's Club buds/shoots

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

 

(1) Clean Devil's club buds by picking out any twigs or leaves and by washing twice in cold water.  Fill a large bowl or sink with cold water and several ice cubes.  Blanch shoots for 2 minutes in a large pot of boiling, salted water.  Drain and plunge immediately into the cold water.  Drain again.  Lay shoots flat on a kitchen towel.  Place another towel on top and squeeze out the excess water, or roll the shoots up in the towel and gently squeeze out excess water. 

 

{**At this point, if you want to use them for later use, let air dry for a couple hours, then place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and place them in the freezer overnight.  In the morning, put the frozen shoots in a large ziplock bag and store in the freezer.  This is also how I freeze berries for winter storage.}

 

(2)  In a large skillet, sauté fennel in olive oil for 5-7 minutes, until soft and golden brown.  Add garlic and Aleppo pepper and sauté another 30 seconds.  Add blanched Devil's Club buds, stirring until just warmed through and moisture has evaporated from the buds.  Add lemon zest and juice, and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.

 

Enjoy!

xo h