Wild Bites #69: a 6-minute read that makes you smarter about wild food and tells you what's to come on the website,
YouTube, or To The Bone. ~ Hank Pure MIdwestern comfort: fish cakes with wild rice. Here's what's trending on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: - I know it's summer, but I can't resist a good ole' seafood gumbo. Fish, shrimp, crab, crawfish, you name it. So good even in hot weather.
- Lambsquarters are invading my garden these days, and I bet they're in yours, too. Here's all you need to know about identifying and cooking lambsquarters, which are my all-time favorite wild green.
- Remember it's not a Wild Bites without meatballs! This week it's Buffalo meatballs, as in meatballs made like Buffalo chicken wings. Bonus points if you make them with actual buffalo...
- Mulberries are ripening all over, and my favorite thing to do with them (other than sit and eat them), is to make mulberry sorbet. Works great with dewberries, raspberries and blackberries, too.
- Got fish? Of course you do. When you or your spouse brings some home, make these fish cakes with wild rice. Pure Midwestern comfort food. Another good option is this whitefish
salad, which works with most kinds of fish.
- Maybe your're going on a picnic, to a potluck, or out on the water? Can't go wrong with these Volga German bierocks: meat
buns! What's not to love?
- Here's a little bit from my new book Borderlands: Green chile elk burgers. Obviously any ground meat works, but you'll want to make this New Mexico
favorite.
Moving up the list: Another summer potluck or picnic favorite are Greek dolmades, the stuffed grape leaves that are irresistable, especially served with
freid barberries, lingonberries or red currants. So good! Love these or any of my recipes? Please rate them while you're there so people searching for recipes know they're worth clicking on! Grilled venison. You want this. Summer is not the time for long braises, big stews or really anything that will heat up the kitchen. Game is traditionally a fall and winter thing, but many of you have plenty of game in your freezers that needs to get eaten this summer before the new seasons. Here are a few recipes to try: - Ever have a cold venison salad? Well, try this one from Mexico, salpicon de venado. While it does start with slow-braised deer shoulder, shank or neck, you shred and serve the meat chilled with lots of crunchy vegetables. It's a winner in
summer.
- Upland hunters! If you have any quail, partridges, chukars or grouse, try my grilled partridge recipe with a crunchy tomato salad.
- Buttermilk fried rabbit is fantastic in warm weather because you can fry it in advance and serve it chilled or at room temperature later. Great picnic fare.
- Here's a bright salad with shredded white meat, pheasant, grouse, quail, rabbit, etc. The barley makes this a full meal, the cherry tomatoes add pop.
- And you can never go wring with grilled venison backstrap. Simple is sometimes best.
My favorite greens are summer greens, namely purslane, lambsquarters and amaranth. They are all prolific "weeds" in your garden, are superfoods in terms of nutrition, and are damn tasty, too. I've written primers on all three to help you get the most out of these largely unloved wild greens. Here's your purslane primer, one on lambsquarters, and one
on amaranth greens. Once you read that, here are a few great recipes to make with them: - One of my favorites is a Mexican combination of braised pork with purslane. If you're not a pork eater, pheasant or chicken is a great
option.
- Northern Italian dumplings with greens is a comforting dish all year long. I love it with any wild greens, but spinach is also good.
- A light, bright
risotto with greens is another great option. Any greens will work in place of the ramp leaves in the linked recipe.
- Just simply sauteeing your greens is enough. I like to use them like spinach with all sorts of
dishes, but they pair well with fish.
4. Red Sauce for the Soul Sometimes you just need a bowl of red sauce... As the commercial says, life comes at ya fast. And it did recently. Don't worry, I am OK. Just got hit with something
unexpected in my personal life, and I need some time to process it. Nothing helps me do that better than the Italian-American red sauce I've been making since before I was a teenager. I wrote about it all over at To the Bone. The essay is all about how life is often not linear, about false starts, how relationships wax and wane, shifting in ways we can and cannot control. How things end, and how endings aren’t always what they seem. And about beginnings that arise from the embers of those endings. Do you cook when you're down? If so, what do you make? Send me a note in the comments over on To the Bone. Let's gooooo!!! The link above will take you to my website, where you can buy the book directly from me. That helps me the most. But if you want faster delivery, head over to Amazon. Jeff Bezos takes a big cut of the action there, but I understand some people like the experience better. As for those of you reading this from other countries, I am working on it. I got dropped by my distributor because I wouldn't hand over the Amazon account, and then Amazon changed the rules for international sales. Grrrrr... But, I just learned of a possible workaround to get the books on Amazon in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Please be patient with me. I really value my readers in these countries, and want to do right by you. If you are
willing, you can order the book directly from me, but the shipping is very expensive -- like $35 USD per book. Gah. Stoked to say my event at Cafe Luna in Fargo, North Dakota has sold out!!! You go, NoDak! There is still plenty of room at Fulton Brewing in Minneapolis
for our beer party -- they brewed a special michelada for me! If you want to go, pick up a ticket here, so we know how many brisket tacos to make... you can just show up, too. There are a few seats left for our book dinner June 30 at Chilango in Minneapolis, too. We just opened reservations for that dinner here. It may sell out, so get yours soon! After that, I will be in NorCal, the Northeast, Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest, and who knows where else? Head over to my Book Tour Page to get the details. I am actively looking for places to host events in Arizona, SoCal, Texas and Montana. If you think we can sell at least 50 cookbooks, hit me up in the comments! I'll get back to more gardening and fishing stuff soon -- this book is occupying a lot of my brain space these days, because, well... it's taken me years and years to write it. Be well, get outside, maybe touch a butterfly, eat something that makes you happy. ~ Hank Comments?Let us know what you think about Wild Bites by using our anonymous comment form - we love to hear from you, and we read every single comment. If you have a question, fire away and be sure to share your email address so we can respond. |
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