Dinner suggestions please

[Adi007]

We've been lying in bed watching Saturday Kitchen on the telly this morning, and I've agreed to make amends for the um charred tablecloth ops: by cooking Kath the ultimate romantic dinner for two ... :-D

So I could use some help with suggestions for the ultimate bushcraft feast suitable to early spring:

So far I have:

For a starter:
limpets
hard boiled eggs (bit of a cheat but from free roaming hens)
dandelion salad

For a main course:
roast rabbit
wild onion
sea kale
needs some carbohydrate - thinking about cat tail root (not sure about the time of year for this??)

Bit stuck on dessert for this time of year. Any ideas ???

Dandelion coffee

[the naughty boy]

dandelion salad?
is it edible? is it just the leaves?
over here theyre known as "**** the beds" because apparently if you eat the stems you **** the bed in your sleep..its true!

why not forget dessert and go straight to the cheeseboard?

[Kath]

why not forget dessert and go straight to the cheeseboard?

Sacrilage! :shock:

Besides can you think of a wild cheese to forage?? :wink: Also we don't have cows or sheep to milk so no chance of making our own cheese.

[Kath]

Is it too early for morels???

[martin]

You could use Burdock root for your carbohydrate, the swines take some digging up though!

For dessert you couldn't get much more romantic than Primrose flowers, raw or lightly battered then fryed.

[Andy]

how about mince meat based pudding

[martin]

http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wildfoodjj/index.htm

Try this site for some recepies.

[Kate688]

Yuk - glad I'm not invited to this romantic dinner for two...! Bon apetite!

[Ed]

dandelion salad?
is it edible? is it just the leaves?

Yep!!! they are edible. The young leaves are what you want in a salad as older ones can taste a bit tooooo green and bitter. The roots you can also roast to make a coffee substitute...... which is passable.

:-)
Ed

[nowhere]

well i like danelion leaves - very nutritious - i also eat the flower heads which brightens up the salad nicely!

Steve.

[the naughty boy]

break out the plastic sheets.

[Adi007]

break out the plastic sheets.

They're only as bad as a couple of cups of coffee ... no floods!

[Kath]

Yuk - glad I'm not invited to this romantic dinner for two...! Bon apetite!

I can post you the leftovers if you want, sweetie!

[JimFSC]

Rhubarb should be growing to a good size just now- makes an ace crumble!
Jim :-D :-D

[Roving Rich]

You can add young beech leaves and Hawthorn leaves to those dandelions to make abit of a salad, and watercress if you can find it.
And the ramsons are up if you wanna garlic things up a bit.
What are wild onions ??
Cheers
Rich

[Kath]

And the ramsons are up if you wanna garlic things up a bit.
What are wild onions ??

Hhmmm ... I just looked up ramsons and it lookes like they're similar to wild onions.
Allium ursinum L. (ramsons) http://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/R148011.HTM
Allium vineale L. (wild onion)
http://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/R143443.HTM

[Kath]

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions!

It all sounds good. The only thing I'm drawing the line at is woodlouses (lice??) as that's too gross for a non-survival situation... :-P

And besides I kinda like the little fellas (I think they look like tiny little armadillos! :hurra: )

I'm getting really excited about the meal now. It's scheduled for this weekend (weather permitting!) as it's my birthday.

I will try and post some pics next week (assuming I'm not in hospital! :mrgreen

[joe.ford]

I found this site for all of you that suggested bugs

http://www.gothic.uk.com/acatalog/BUG_CANDY.html :-P

[larry the spark]

Haha.... i bought one of those with a larvae or maggot in for my girlfriend as a jokey stocking filler a few years back. Her wee bro was only about 9 or 10 at the time and scoffed it thinking it was a fake.... oh the tears when he found out it was real, heehee :twisted: Served him right for nicking it in the first place though

[Kath]

I love it! And in place of the after dinner mint ... a creme de menth flavoured cricket! :rolmao:

[bushwacker bob]

I think this dinner should include a proper pudding considering Kaths quote, how about some egg custard with those free range eggs :-D

[jakunen]

Morels? Oh yes!
I've found them all over my garden (don't know where they've come from but I sure as hell am NOT gonna complain).
Been cropping them for a couple of weeks. Just make sure you remove the slugs/woodlice unless you want even more protein.
Despite what it says in the books, Morels are pretty easy to tell apart from the false morel. True morels have a quite uniform structure whereas false morels are more like an amorphous blob with indentations.
True morel:
http://www.in2.dk/fungi/imageframe1.htm

False morel/brain morel
http://www.grzyby.pl/gatunki/Gyromitra_esculenta.htm

[Tumper]

It may be a be late for your special dinner......But dont forget the presentation. A special meal should be a feast for all the senses, and a little effort is always nice. How about using some of the early spring blossoms like rose petals...a carpet of pink! The leaves of bulb plants such as daff's can be cut and laid out to act as table places. Theres still plenty of cones around that can add an extra dimension to any place setting (but warm the beasties out first) If you really want to go for it, what about carving a loving spoon? or a double ended spoon? The Ladies love that kind of thing...so I've been told!

[the naughty boy]

double enders eh? how romantic, can you get much grub on those then? aw well as long as your satisfied i guess thats all that matters eh? :wink:

pink petals are nice too.

your right though thumper its all about presentation.


ohh golly gee ,,,my post has been edited. did someone get the wrong idea about the double ended spoons? muhahaha muhahahahahaha.

[Kath]

It may be a be late for your special dinner......But dont forget the presentation. A special meal should be a feast for all the senses, and a little effort is always nice. How about using some of the early spring blossoms like rose petals...a carpet of pink! The leaves of bulb plants such as daff's can be cut and laid out to act as table places. Theres still plenty of cones around that can add an extra dimension to any place setting (but warm the beasties out first) If you really want to go for it, what about carving a loving spoon? or a double ended spoon? The Ladies love that kind of thing...so I've been told!

The progress of my love spoon is very slow. I don't think the tree the wood comes from has even been planted yet! :wink: I think he's planning it for our golden wedding anniversary ... :-P

As for the presentation, lovely ideas, but I'll be most impressed if I don't end up in hospital with food poisoning! ):