📋 Spring Salad with Fiddleheads Recipe

Fiddlehead spring salad in a blue bowl on white surface

5 from 1 vote

📋 Spring Salad with Fiddleheads Recipe

This Spring Salad with fiddleheads and blackberry vinaigrette is a great side or make it a meal with grilled chicken. It can also be vegan with pine nuts. And it's an easy fiddlehead recipe to prepare in under 30 minutes.

Course Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine North American

Keyword blackberry vinaigrette, fiddleheads, spring salad

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 387kcal

Author Terri Gilson

Ingredients

3 cups spring mix ( 5 oz bag)
4 breasts chicken breast *for vegan, skip the chicken and only use pine nuts
1 297 g container of cherry tomatoes
⅓ cup yellow pepper finely chopped
⅔ cup pine nuts
1 ½ cups fiddleheads **asparagus can be substituted
2-3 tablespoon Dijon mustard (for chicken, if using)
2 teaspoon garlic powder (for chicken, if using)

Blackberry vinaigrette:

1 cup fresh blackberries
¼ teaspoon fennel , ground
¾ cup olive oil
4 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
2 tablespoon water

Instructions

If using chicken: brush on dijon mustard, and cook in grill for about 7 minutes on each side or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Slice and set aside.

Blackberry Vinaigrette:

Place the black berries in blender with water and process for 3 minutes , strain pureed berries through fine sieve and discard seeds, setting aside the blackberry puree.
Rinse seeds from blender then place blackberry mixture back into blender and add remaining vinaigrette ingredients.
Cover, and blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Refrigerate until ready to use. Stir or shake before using.

Fiddleheads:

Cooking fiddleheads: Rinse and clean fiddleheads, then add to boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry with paper towel.
* (see instructions on cooking/blanching to freeze in notes)

Salad:

Mix spring mix, yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and fiddleheads. Add as much blackberry vinaigrette as you prefer and top with sliced grilled chicken (if using).

Notes

🥘How to Cook and Freeze Fiddleheads

You need to rinse and clean fiddleheads, then add them to boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry with paper towel.

Because fiddleheads only come around once a year, I like to buy a lot and freeze them. However, they require blanching (quick cooking, then plunging into cold water)

To prepare fiddleheads for freezing:

Bring a pot of cold water to a boil
Add the fiddleheads, then bring up to a boil again.
Boil for only 2 minutes, then drain.
Immediately put into a bowl of ice cold water.
Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towel and pat dry with more paper towel.
Freeze in freezer bags for up to a year.
*IMPORTANT: When you remove them from the freezer you MUST BOIL FOR 10 MINUTES BEFORE EATING (OTHERWISE THEY ARE NOT SAFE TO EAT)

*NOTE: This nutritional analysis INCLUDES the CHICKEN

**NOTE Pine nuts are very high in good (unsaturated) fat

Nutrition