dandelion.. fritters?

I don't follow many blogs, but out of the few that I do avidly keep up on, "longest acres" is definitely one of the most interesting. It's run by Kate, an urban farmer who -- oh, well, why don't you visit her blog and read up on it yourself? I have a knack for making interesting things sound dull. Trust me, you'll be sucked right in by her posts and lifestyle (whenever I visit her blog, I just want to go out and buy my own chickens and cows)!

Anyway, Kate recently posted a recipe for dandelion fritters -- yeah, deep-fried little pancakes made from those yellow weeds that grow in your yard. Honestly they look delicious to me and I've always wanted to learn how to cook from 'organic' recipes (they give me that warm-n-fuzzy, bohemian-homey feeling -- I am one with the earth!) so I'm saving the recipe here. Once I make it and try it out myself, I'll post the results here! :

2-3 cups of dandelion flowers
1 local egg, beaten
1 cup local milk
1/4 c all-purpose flower (king arthur or other locally milled or grown)
1 c cornmeal (from butterworks, or grow your own)
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 c veggie oil. i used EVOO, because i read the recipe hastily and therefor not thoroughly and it was scrumptious


directions:

1. for sauce, whip ingredients and set aside. serve with fritters. (again, use whatever sauce you can imagine, including the chevre and horseradish, or my yogurt with ramps).
2.  collect your dandelions from a nice clean pasture (not one where your dog or boyfriend pee). if they look clean, you needn't wash them.
3. mix up your batter including all the ingredients save the oil and the flowers.
4. put your oil in pan and heat. you want about a 1/4 in of oil. CAREFUL. hot oil has a very unpleasant reaction when contacted with the skin.
5. when the oil is hot dip the flowers into the batter while holding onto the stem and then drop them flower side down in the hot bubbling oil. again, careful.
6. cook until goden brown. fork or spoon them out of the oil and serve warm with the sauce of your choosing.