spaghetti with foraged sow thistle

spaghetti with foraged sow thistle

spaghetti with foraged sow thistle

The Bay Area has been lucky this year with the rainy season. We’ve been getting plenty of water, so we’re all set for a beautiful spring. It’s fun to travel to the countryside right now to see the mountains completely green. When I first moved to San Francisco I wasn’t too sure about the so-called “golden” hills. They looked brown and withered to me. Back East is different: very green; Brazil, even more. I used to associate dry land with something sterile or lifeless.

It took me few months to see the beauty and harmony of the Northern California ecosystem with its vibrant flora and fauna. Even in the midst of the City, just at the park nearby my house, I keep seeing families of raccoons, skunks, and multiple types of birds. Another thing that grows plentifully nearby in springtime is sow thistle. It likes the rain. For whatever reason these are not available for sale at markets. If you want to eat this seasonal delight, you need to hunt for them yourself.

Foraging has been trendy lately. I like the idea. We went to a restaurant a couple weeks ago where the menu proudly proclaims that part of the food was gathered locally. In January, at the SF Public Library we heard a food blogger talk about his experiences as a Bay Area forager. His thing is much more large-scale. I’m a small-time forager with huge tastebuds.

On our way back from the Pacific Orchid Exposition, I harvested a bunch of sow thistle at the park nearby. This isn’t the first time.

Flavor-wise sow thistle resembles rustic green leafy vegetables such as escarole, chicory or frise. Like those, it matches well with olive oil, garlic and parmesan.

foraged sow thistle

foraged sow thistle

spaghetti with foraged sow thistle

1lb packaged spaghetti
1 full bowl freshly foraged sow thistle, rinsed in passed through a salad spinner
5 garlic cloves, cut into slivers
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Top notch grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Crushed red pepper to taste

Boil a large pot with plenty of water. Cook spaghetti al dente following package instructions. Drain, set it aside and keep warm.

Add half of the olive oil to a large pan. Bring temperature to high, add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Don’t burn it. Add thistle, salt and peppers and sauté until fully wilted and volume reduced by half. Toss in the pasta. Drizzle remaining olive oil over everything followed by a good amount of grated cheese. You’ll love it.

emerald green hills in the California spring

emerald green hills in the California spring

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Su Mar 17, 2011 @ 2:10

    Simple, but pefect 🙂

  • tasteofbeirut Mar 17, 2011 @ 6:55

    Wow! Hegui! I am so with you on this! Lebanese too are born foragers: they had too, with scant natural resources! So they go foraging in groups, so much so that a lot of the wild herbs and flowers have been depleted! anyway, this green that you picked up sounds wonderful and reminds me of a dish we make in Lebanon with wild chicory or dandelion that I absolutely love (called hindbeh atteh); just stir fried (boiled a bit first) with olive oil and lots of onions and garlic and a squeeze of lemon. Put fried onions on top and some pine nuts.
    I am going to try that fish sauce you were telling me about next time. Can you make it at home?

  • Heguiberto Mar 17, 2011 @ 10:15

    Joumana,
    Foranging is fun!
    Sow thistle tastes similar to chicory/dandelion, they are probably from the same family.
    I have a friend who invited me to go look for Chanterelle mushrooms south of here in the Santa Cruz mountains. I can’t wait to find my own precious shrroms sprouting up under pine needles. More to come on that 😉

    * it’s possible to make fish sauce at home but I don’t think you wanna go there. The fermenting process makes is smell pretty bad, your family and neighbors will hate you LOL. Get it bottled, Thai and Vietnamese brands are the best
    H

  • Devaki @ weavethousandflavors.com Mar 17, 2011 @ 13:04

    For a small-time forager you truly bring it! I am so impressed that you foraged your own. I have never foraged for anything before – well maybe strawberries but this is just too cool for words! Love the honest flavors in this pasta. Can’t imagine the flavor of sow-thistle though 🙂

    BTW, I am still swooning over your crab pie and not likely to recover in the near future.

    chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors

  • Tom @ Tall Clover Farm Mar 18, 2011 @ 8:33

    Heguiberto, this looks great and here we have an abundance of stinging nettles, my calves will attest to that. I had my first foraging with a friend last week and she made a stir fry with the tips, but I sense this recipe is perfect for these wild guys as well. Thank you!

  • Murasaki Shikibu Mar 18, 2011 @ 9:24

    I think this lives up to the true essence of good cooking. Fresh ingredients combined to produce mouth watering results. 🙂

  • Heguiberto Mar 18, 2011 @ 18:01

    Tom,
    I am not sure what nettle is. Do you think they grow in urban areas too. I need to look for it 🙂

    Sometimes we like to add a bunch of stuff on top of our foccacia, zucs, toamtoes, olives, peppers, onions….It looks and tastes like deep dish pizza!

  • Heguiberto Mar 18, 2011 @ 18:04

    Murasaki,
    Thank you for visting us too! Those sow-thistle couldn’t be fresher.