Fiddlehead Season and NorCliff Farms' Culinary Challenge

In about a week or two, if warm weather prevails, fresh Ontario fiddleheads will begin to be available for their short (two-week!) spring growing season. Fiddleheads are one of those polarizing foods: on one side of the room we have those people who've either never heard of them or simply hate them. On the other is the passionate contingent for whom they hold an almost mythic status.

The unobtrusive little unfurled frond of the ostrich fern is one of the very first edible plants to rear its head above the last snowdrifts in northeastern woodlands. Thus, like ramps, it has a specially precious quality, and must have seemed like a miraculous blessing to anyone who lived through a northern winter in pre-industrial times.

As an ingredient, a fiddlehead is a tricky thing: somewhat bitter, occasionally tough, and apt to be gritty if not properly washed. Last night, Ontario fiddlehead producer NorCliff Farms tested the fiddlehead skills of three professional chefs in the final round of their annual culinary competition So You Think You Can Cook? I had the fun of attending as one of the 14 judges, and learned some interesting details.

• Fiddleheads are antioxidant and a good source of iron, as well as various other minerals.
• To keep them, one should snip off the ends and stand them in cold water with a little lemon juice in the fridge.
• Fiddleheads grow so fast that you can hear them.
• There is some confusion around the question as to whether fiddleheads are toxic in some circumstances and to some people. The commercially marketed ostrich fern fiddlehead has been known to cause illness in people with a particular sensitivity. However, cooking for about ten minutes is thought to eliminate any toxic qualities, which means that fresh rather than frozen fiddleheads give the best results. They should not be eaten raw.
• Some foragers confuse ostrich ferns with bracken ferns; however, bracken fern fiddleheads contain both toxins and carcinogens. So if you intend to pick your own fiddleheads, you should be certain about your identification.

This is the first of the dishes we were served, and my personal favourite. Titled "Fiddlehead Riding Hood", it was created by sous chef Eric Henry Anderson of Inn On the Twenty in Jordan, which is the sister property to Cave Springs Cellars; its On the Twenty restaurant was one of the first Niagara establishments to begin championing the idea of matching local foods with Niagara wine.

The dish consisted of a raviolo stuffed with one fiddlehead and Upper Canada Ricotta over mixed greens, garnished with a delicious fiddlehead-Riesling purée, and topped with a candied fiddlehead "coin". Pale green on medium green on dark green, it offered a crunchy-creamy contrast to the fiddlehead texture, and that puree was mouthwateringly good. It paired well with the very citrusy Peller Estates Reserve Riesling 2009. I liked it because it faced the challenge head-on and put the fiddleheads at the forefront of the dish.

Our second plate was "Fiddlehead Frenzy", presented by executive chef Kyle Christofferson of Luxe Bistro, which is located in Ottawa's Byward Market. This was a far more complex construction; on the right of the plate was a morsel of butter-poached lobster with fiddlehead beurre blanc sauce on a pearl barley risotto of butternut squash, fiddleheads and walnuts. Next came a palate-cleansing sip of a "fiddlehead smoothie" made with pineapple, lime, mint and honey.

Finally, there was an ahi tuna tartare with fresh herbs, fiddleheads and wasabi tobiko (flying fish roe), which had a delicious cucumber-wasabi flavour. It was served with Peller Estates Sauvignon Blanc 2009, which recently won a gold medal in California. The wine started out with almost no scent but quickly developed a strong natural gas aroma; its vivid apple taste went well both with the buttery lobster and with the strong wasabi-tuna. This dish was certainly accomplished, but the tastes of lobster, fruit and wasabi overwhelmed the pleasant green taste of the fiddleheads.

Batting third was executive chef Brian Scott Pingle of Gossip Restaurant in Toronto, which is a little off the beaten track, next to the rose garden inside Exhibition Place. He presented an ambitious and imaginative "Gossip Fiddlehead Maki", which consisted of bison carpaccio and fiddlehead sushi rolls topped with fiddlehead tempura and a side of wild garlic ramp mayonnaise, all accompanied by Peller Estates Gamay Noir. The wine's sweet raspberry scent and a lightly tannic peppery fruit taste was very pleasant, but perhaps a weaker pairing than the other two.

Chef Brook Kavanagh of La Palette (which moved some time ago from Kensington Market to Queen West near Bathurst) also showed off his fiddlehead prowess – though not as a contestant – with a generous amuse bouche consisting of morel mushroom stuffed with duck leg mousse, served over a warmed leek and fiddlehead salad with duck bacon, floating in a rich duck brodo – er, that's broth to most of us – and topped with a single lightly cooked quail egg.)

When the judges' scores were tallied, the winner was Kyle Christofferson of Ottawa's Luxe Bistro, for his elegant and impressive Fiddlehead Frenzy. (I did hear that the competition was tough; apparently the margin between first and second place was a mere six points over a possible total of 1,400.) I believe all the recipes will be posted on the NorCliff site. If not, and if you're interested, I have them all, and I intend to keep them.

Fresh fiddleheads are stocked by Food Basics, Longo's, Lococo's, Price Chopper, Fortino's, No Frills, Whole Foods and The Big Carrot. Both fresh and frozen fiddleheads are carried by Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys, Zehrs, The Great Canadian Superstore and IGA. I expect other places, like Fiesta Farms, will have them too.

Fiddlehead image from NorCliff Farms. Fiddlehead raviolo photo by executive chef Jason Parsons of Peller Estates winery, used with permission and thanks.