Ramps, morels, fiddlehead ferns, if these items aren’t familiar to you, you need to get out more, literally!
Nothing says spring quite like a big bunch of crisp, garlicky ramps, tossed in a pasta like broccoli rabe, but with a kick.
Morels, those cone shaped sponges that elicit high emotion between mushroom foragers are the very model of a finicky spring vegetable, here today and gone the very next. Highly sought after, on par with the expense of a chanterelle or even a truffle, they are an embodiment of fresh earth, rain, and the coming of a new season.
We often overlook the subtler and less marketable products introduced early in a season for the bigger, bolder product that will come later. But make no mistake about it, the first blush of spring begins with things like green garlic and baby kale.
The farmer’s markets gearing up to go won’t have much more than that to start, but it’s a great start nonetheless.
The first of my spring products is already in house and on my customer’s plates. Baby kale roasted with olive and kosher salt. Sautéed local shiitakes with green garlic. Yes, there are still parsnips and Brussel sprouts, but more and more the plates are changing, and while the focus is always on moving forward, let’s not rush it too quickly.
It’s especially important to appreciate the early spring crops, as they will not weather a dry hot spring.
Mushrooms (Photo from The Mushroom Council)
Early, tender herbs will often bolt and be gone before we even attempt to use them. As much as I swear each year that I will cook with fresh cilantro, it’s bolted, seeded and gone when I get there. Baby greens are tender and sweet, but only as long as we have moderate moisture and cool days. Once hot and muggy weather descends, or torrential rains worthy of a rain forest sweep across the fields, those are mere memories.
Perhaps that’s what makes us look ahead so quickly; the transient nature of early spring and its produce.
There will be time for the bounty of summer, and I understand how agonizingly long the wait can be for the perfect caprese salad, but to me the freshness and clean flavors of springtime wake the palate back up like no other season.
While I’m a fan of the parsnip, it’s about time to move on, and there’s nothing better than some green garlic pesto tossed with fresh fettucine and sautéed shitake mushrooms.
Ah, the mushroom, nature’s sponge. Several weeks ago, yes you heard me, several weeks ago I got the first (of what I hope to be) of my local mushrooms. Shiitakes, log grown, clean and tan without the tough dried stem and leathery cap of then usual cooler variety. They will be the first of many (I hope) mushrooms that will cross my kitchen door from now until the hardest frosts hit in the fall. Versatile in their flavor profiles and textures they add the “umami” that is sometimes lacking in the spring, the deep rich flavors that have come before, and will arrive again with the summer vegetables. They are a great accompaniment of meats as well and dovetail nicely with the coming of spring lamb, and eventually with a new crop of free range organic chickens from Elmwood Stock Farm. With Easter coming this weekend, and a ham or leg of lamb on the table, you could do worse than to build the rest of your meal around the fresh vegetables starting to appear in the markets.
Perhaps it is the restorative nature of Easter that to me also represents the gateway to spring. It’s never really a set day on the calendar, and there are higher implications associated with the celebration of Easter, but there is a newness about both.
I hesitate to call it rebirth, too cliched. It’s more of a renewal, to remind us that there is an end to winter, but a season also to pay attention to, to examine closely for all that it can offer us.
Not many celebrations zero in on that concept quite like Easter dinner. Later in March the options open. Fresh lamb versus frozen, ham instead of lamb, the meal is decidedly lighter than a winter time feast. I look for nice round, firm new potatoes to roast alongside a bone in leg of lamb. Make sure you season the lamb with the first of the fresh spring herbs, green garlic, and salt and cracked black pepper. Don’t be stingy with the herbs, we want to wake up the palate after a long winter’s sleep. Also take a little olive oil and make a paste of the salt, pepper and green garlic, it will be much more pervasive in paste form. Try this rub at least 24 hours in advance. Roast slowly, around 325 until the center of the leg, not the bone, registers about 130. Let it rest and temp it again, you should be around 140-145. Too red? Don’t take it up much higher than 150 max or it will start to toughen.
Finally, choose a vegetable that will brighten the plate, remember that this is a celebration! I favor wilting some fresh spinach with some sautéed shallots and shiitakes done in a good olive oil.
Enjoy, and Happy Easter!
John Foster is an executive chef who heads the culinary program at Sullivan University’s Lexington campus. A New York native, Foster has been active in the Lexington culinary scene and a promoter of local and seasonal foods for more than 20 years. The French Culinary Institute-trained chef has been the executive chef of his former restaurant, Harvest, and now his Chevy Chase eatery, The Sage Rabbit.
To read more from Chef John Foster, including his recipes, click here.
