Dandelion Update - "Cream-of", That Is.

Dandelions are bitter.

And water is wet, and cats shed and disdain the toys you bought for them.  I know.  Very painfully obvious stuff.

But tonight - after a bunch of Julia Child encounters, and enormous success with the

Cream of Sorrel soup, it was time to go out on a limb.

So we went for it.

Nope - just no getting around it.
Cream of Dandelion Soup
looks like all the "cream of" soups.
But they taste REALLY nice.

Step 1.  Find a place with dandelions that is not; impregnated with weed killer, too close to a road, a potty stop heaven for the neighborhood dogs.
These places are there, you just might have to think about it.

Step 2. Pick your dandelions.  Here at the height of weed season this takes all of 5 minutes.






Step 3.  Clean them.  This takes a bit longer.  Dandelions are not eaten all that much by insect life, but they hang out there.  And depending on how you picked yours, they may be a bit muddy.  So give them 2 or 3 washes in changes of water - and then spin or pat them dry.

And you can catch your son snitching the flowers to eat.
(If he's weird like mine.)
Or dip them in fritter batter and fry them.

Step 4.  Cut them up well. And get out the hand blender - as these leaves are heartier, and will need major mechanical assistance to break down.  (Unlike the sorrel which simply disintegrated into the soup - more or less.)

Go back and follow the Potage Feuilles de Printemps recipe.  But bring along the champagne vinegar.  And whatever you do, don't forget the salt.  This one needs both.

After you've made this soup... now you are ready for lots more stuff.  Maybe not ANYthing, but the veggies are not going to scare you any more.