Recipe from Stirring the Pot, credited to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.
This recipe is ridiculously simple by internet standards, but it works, and it’s a good reminder that not every savory thing has to have an onion.
I found these at the grocery store, next to a sign warning that you have to cook them. The first thing I noticed was how grimy they looked. Washing them was annoying because of their tightly coiled shape, but at least they weren’t full of actual dirt like some vegetables. I also noticed that any damaged parts turned brown quickly.
Fiddleheads are known to cause food poisoning if not cooked aggressively, although no one seems to know why. I boiled mine and then sauteed them with butter, garlic, and lemon. After all that, they tasted like limp asparagus. I wouldn’t bother with these again.