Fiddlehead & Ricotta Crostini with Tarragon & Lemon

It's that wonderful time again, when I amble down to the park and take an appraising look at the verdant curlicues popping up from the brown, leaf-strewn earth - fiddlehead season! Last year I made a pasta dish with my modest take, and this year, with a largesse of homemade ricotta cheese left in the fridge, I decided to serve the fiddleheads with an herb-spiked, lemony ricotta spread over crostini. I love asparagus with lemon and tarragon and as I guessed, the fiddleheads fit right in with the flavors as well.

Feel free to refer to my previous post for further information about foraging for fiddleheads. Also, I highly recommend making your own ricotta cheese for this recipe (and any other recipe, in perpetuity!). Using instructions from The Kitchn, I found it an extremely simple process with a vastly superior result.

Fiddlehead & Ricotta Crostini with Tarragon & Lemon
Makes 4 crostini

*4 slices bread from a nice bakery loaf
*EVOO
*1 small nubbin butter
*20-some fiddleheads, washed and cleaned well
*1/2 cup ricotta cheese (preferably homemade)
*1/2 teaspoon chopped tarragon leaves
*Lemon zest from one lemon
*S&P
*1 clove garlic, cut in half

After cleaning the fiddleheads thoroughly, blanch for about 30 seconds in roiling water and drain. Brush your bread slices with a little bit of evoo and pop in the (toaster) oven at 350 to bake until golden. Meanwhile, melt a touch of butter and a drizzle of evoo in a wide skillet over medium and saute the fiddleheads a couple minutes. Stir the tarragon, ricotta cheese, about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest (or more, to taste), and pinches of S&P together.

When the bread is toasty, rub them with half a garlic clove, and spread on a thick layer of the ricotta mixture. Arrange fiddleheads on the crostini, and add a few flakes more of lemon zest over top. Serve immediately.