Deep Fried Dandys

My husband and I spent the better part of the afternoon at my mothers' house yesterday. We travel 15 miles south every weekend to visit with our parents. As my husband spoke with my father, my mother and I took a walk. We walked around her house picking up sticks and straightening things. As we were walking I noticed that she had quite a few Dandelions in her yard. I mentioned something about all of them and Mother said she had a recipe for deep fried dandelions! At first I thought she must be crazy, but I love to try new things, so I thought "Why not give it a go".

Her recipe books are nowhere near few and far between so I just googled the recipe that we used.

http://www.troutsfarm.com/In_the_Kitchen/Dandelions/Dandelions.htm

This is an excellent site, as it has pictures to go along with the directions. It states that you do not want to use the green stem or leafy parts as they are bitter. So, I just picked the top parts (blossoms) and left the stems to be mowed over. I put the tops in a collander and strained them very well after soaking them in some salt water for about 30 minutes. I laid them on clean white towels to dry. We used the following batter mix:

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 egg (beaten)

tsp salt and pepper

Beat egg, stir in milk.

Whisk in flour and seasonings.

(we experimented with several seasonings such as garlic, onion, italian, and  cinnamon, clove, and sugar.)

Dip tops in batter and deep fry in hot oil.

Brown and serve! Makes a great appetizer. Maybe try with a marinara sauce!

They taste almost like wild mushrooms!! Pretty Good!!!