Garlic fiddleheads

Kelly posted this recipe on her blog:
I’ve been staring at these wee, strange, expensive (they’re $7.99/lb) veggies for a couple of weeks now, wondering how on earth you were supposed to cook them, and what they tasted like. Knowing that you can only get them for a few weeks each spring, I realized that if I wanted to find out this year, I’d better get cracking. So tonight I bought about a dollar’s worth. Below is the recipe that I winged while making tonight’s dinner:
The recipe (serves one, enough for a mini meal)
1 generous handful fiddleheads (these should be dark green in colour)
1 lovely, organic portobello mushroom
1/2 red pepper
2-3 cloves organic garlic
1 dollop olive oil
organic chicken broth (about 1/8 cup)
dried chili flakes
salt
water

1. Fill a small sauce pan with enough water to boil the fiddleheads. Salt, and allow water to boil vigorously.


2. While the water boils, trim the fiddleheads so that there’s only about a 1/4″ of stem, discard any unfurled fiddleheads (appearantly these taste weedy). Wash the fiddles, brushing away any left over papery chafe.


3. Slip the fiddleheads into the boiling water, and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Any longer will make them tough (or so my veggie book tells me).


4. Slice up the garlic. Pour enough olive oil into a skillet or wok to cover the bottom, add the garlic.


5. Slice up the mushroom. When the oil is sizzling nicely, add to pan. The shrooms will absorb the oil. To keep them from drying out, add a bit of chicken broth (or whatever broth you want. You could also use water) to keep the shrooms from burning and sticking to the pan. I didn't measure, I just poured until I thought I’d added enough.


6. Drain the fiddleheads, and add to the shroom and garlic concoction.


7. Sprinkle with dried chili flakes to taste.


8. When the broth is gone (the shrooms will suck this up too!), you’re done!


9. Eat.

This was so amazingly tasty, that I immediately wished that the store was open so I could run out and buy more tonight. I’ll be getting more tomorrow, that’s for sure. I want to eat my fill of these little babies before they’re no longer available for the year.