Eating from your yard tip~if you have any open dirt you most likely have lamb’s quarters. Consider it a free gift to fill your tummy. The cooked leaves and soaked seeds are edible. The young leaves are tender, but like all of us get tougher with age, so pick them when they are below 8 inches. You can use lamb’s quarters much like you do spinach. My dear friend, Rose Bernstein, makes a variation of spanakopita with lamb’s quarters and feta cheese baked in phyllo dough. You can also mix the leaves in your pork wonton filling, egg dishes, stir fries or soup. I had read about lamb’s quarters use in East Indian cooking, so with lamb’s quarters in hand I went to Suji’s, my neighborhood East Indian market. The minute the owner, Mahawk, saw me he said where did you get that? He said I order a big container of that every winter. He suggested making saag with the lamb’s quarters and fresh fenugreek. My buddy Bob Henrickson recently made Kay Young’s Wild Seasons recipe for creamed lamb’s quarters with mushrooms (see photo), which is a favorite at wild edible pot lucks. How do you eat your lamb’s quarters?
– Jill Kuhel
