Lambsquarters Recipes

CREAMY LAMB'S-QUARTERS GRATIN

Steps:

• Make Filling:
• Preheat the oven to 350° F with the rack in the middle. Butter a 2-quart shallow baking dish.
• Bring 1-inch salted water to a boil in a large saucepan. Meanwhile, wash lamb's-quarters in a large bowl of cold water and drain well. Trim any coarse, woody stems at bottom (don't go crazy with trimming; young lamb's-quarter stems cook up tender and delicious).
• Add lamb's-quarters to pot and cook over medium heat, covered, until leaves are wilted and stems are tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the greens in a large sieve or colander and rinse well under cold running water. Drain again, pressing out excess liquid with the back of a large spoon. Coarsely chop greens and transfer to a bowl. Dry saucepan and reserve.
• Cook scallions in olive oil with 1/4 teaspoon salt in reserved saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Combine scallion mixture with greens in bowl. Reserve saucepan again.
• Melt butter in reserved saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in flour. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes, then whisk in milk and bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer sauce, whisking, 2 minutes (it will be thick). Remove from heat and whisk in nutmeg, zest, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Mix sauce into greens mixture. If the mixture is too thick, thin with a little additional milk; season with salt and pepper. Spread out mixture in baking dish.
• Make Topping:
• Toss together crumbs, cheeses, and oil until combined well. Sprinkle topping evenly over greens mixture and bake in oven until crumbs are golden and mixture is bubbling, about 30 minutes.
• Cooks' Notes:
• The best way to make coarse fresh breadcrumbs is to cube fresh bread, then grind it in small batches in a blender (a food processor is not as good at grinding crusty bread into breadcrumbs because the crusts get stuck in the blade).
• Creamy lamb's-quarters mixture and crumb mixture can be made 1 day ahead and kept separately in airtight containers, chilled.

LAMBSQUARTERS

Steps:

• Heat oil in a sautee pan and dice the onion.
• Wash the leaves and stems, bring the water to a boil.
• Brown the onion, when brown set aside with a lid on.
• Steam the leaves/stems until tender @2 minute Mix juice with onions and oil.
• Put leaves in a bowl, drizzle with onion/lemon/oil sauce and sprinkle with seeds and salt.
• Serve immediately.

LAMBSQUARTERS SEED SMOOTHIE

Steps:

• Rinse lambsquarters seeds in a fine-mesh strainer. Drain.
• Combine rinsed seeds, water, pear, apple, beet tops and stems, honey, and ginger in a high-powered blender. Blend slowly until chunks are smaller. Increase speed to high and blend until smooth and creamy.

LAMBSQUARTERS SOUP

Steps:

• Put the turkey wings in a soup pot and add the stock, plus 2 quarts of water. Bring to a simmer, then add the avocado or bay leaves, epazote (if using), oregano, onion and celery. Let this simmer, partially covered, until the meat wants to fall off the bones, about 2 to 3 hours.
• Remove the wings and pick off all the meat from the bones. One trick I do with wild meats is to fish out what's ready, put the shredded meat into a bowl in the fridge and return the debris to the pot. Check every 30 minutes or so until the toughest wing or leg or whatever is tender, then shred that. This makes for a better broth in the end, rather than forcing the issue with wings or legs that aren't tender yet. Reserve all the meat.
• Strain the broth well. I set a paper towel in a sieve and set that over a large bowl to remove debris. Rinse out your soup pot and return the strained broth to it. Add the shredded meat and allow this to cook for a few minutes.
• Add all the lambsquarters at once, stir well and allow to simmer for no more than 10 minutes. Serve with lime juice and a little cayenne. And, as I mention in the head notes, I like to ladle all this on top of simple steamed rice.

LAMBSQUARTERS SMOOTHIE

Steps:

• Combine water, apples, kiwi, lambsquarters, honey, flax seeds, and ginger in a blender; blend on high speed until smooth, about 30 seconds.