In our Mountains and Creeks issue, we follow Ellen Zachos up Holy Ghost Creek, where she guides us in foraging for early spring greens. Zachos offers pointers for identifying plants ranging from winter cress and dandelion to cow parsnip and common mallow. Here she shares a recipe for “Spring Greens Fritters” that you can adapt to whatever greens you have on hand.

Print Recipe

SPRING GREENS FRITTERS

Servings: 2

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup evening primrose root puree
  • 1/4 cup chopped alliums of choice (foraged, store bought, garden grown—whatever you have on hand)
  • 1 cup chopped spring greens
  • 1 egg
  • Salt, to taste
  • Olive oil or your cooking fat of choice

Instructions

  • Prep your evening primrose roots by peeling and boiling them until they’re easy to pierce with a fork. Remove them from the water, chop the roots into bite-sized pieces, and transfer them to a blender. Blend until you have a smooth puree.
  • Mince your alliums (wild onion, ramps, garlic, shallots, etc.) and sauté briefly in oil. You’re not going for caramelized here, just a soft texture.
  • If you’ve harvested winter cress, blanch it for a few minutes to lessen the bitter flavor. I also briefly blanch mallow and cow parsnip greens to smooth out their hairy texture. After this preliminary prep, chop your spring greens and add them to the cooked alliums. Stir them over medium heat just long enough to reduce and wilt all the greens. Add
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, taste, and add more salt if necessary.
  • Remove the greens from the heat and let them cool to body temperature. Add the evening primrose puree and one beaten egg; stir to combine.
  • Pour a thin layer of your cooking fat of choice into a sauté pan and heat until it spatters when you flick a drop of water into it. To make the fritters, transfer tablespoons of batter into the oil, spacing spoonfuls widely enough that they don’t touch. Press down on the batter gently to flatten it.
  • When the first side has browned (3–5 minutes), flip the fritters and brown the second side (only 2–3 minutes). These are best eaten hot, so either serve immediately, or reheat them on a cookie sheet in the oven before serving. Then sit back and enjoy the first foraged feast of spring.

Ellen Zachos
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Ellen Zachos lives in Santa Fe and is the author of eight books, including the recently released The Forager's Pantry. She is the co-host of the Plantrama podcast (plantrama.com), and writes about wild foods at backyardforager.com. Zachos offers several online foraging courses at backyard-forager.thinkific.com.