The Simple Desires of Spring

Here's a rule and a twist.

First, the rule:

* never go to the supermarket hungry. Why? Because you never buy potato chips -- gave 'em up for Lent or for some diet. But there they are, strangely, sitting in your pantry. And you're eating them because, well, you bought them. . . when you were hungry in the supermarket.

And now the twist:

* never read the blogs in my blogroll when hungry. Why? Because they are AWESOME and full of delicious foods that I now need to go make.

What I'm really loving is the strange way that the blogs will be in sync with each other. Sometimes, it's a cheese; sometimes a grain or a particular vegetable that everyone is grooving on. For a while there, it was truffles.

Right now it seems as though people are lightening up, getting more greens. The shift is happening . . . can you feel it? It's been a bit warm (and by "warm" I mean in the 40s) for a few days now. There's a desire for lightness and brightness that seems just too good not to explore. It's making me think about the spring cleanse, which is coming up in just a few weeks (which reminds me that I need to start weening myself off caffeine again).

Here are just a few recent posts from fellow bloggers that have stimulated my curiosity:

This recipe for Veggie Chili and Beer Bread seems like a great late winter feast-- hearty enough for winter, but vegetable-based, so somewhat springy. From Simply Life.

Although I'm not sure about all this "paleo-dieting," (seems like a fad) more fresh salads are always good. And if that salad is a Thai Salad with Spicy Dressing from The Nourishing Gourmet, I'm intrigued.

Or, for something completely different, we could have lots of grains and cheese from No Recipes! The Black Truffle and Cheese Grits looks like the kind of Valentine's Day breakfast that would win me over and over again.

101 Cookbooks plays with one of my favorite winter squash, the delicata, in this dish, Roasted Delicata Squash Salad.

Cucina Panzano always entices with something delectable. I'd like to add some pancetta to this recipe for Tuscan Blueberry Port Chicken Breast.

And finally, Tartelette reminds us of what is to come: sweet berries and ripe rhubarb. I'm loving the looks of these Rhubarb and Red Berry Crumbles (the photography on this site always makes my mouth water). I love that this recipe uses millet and brown rice flour as well as honey for sweetening.

Food of the Wild Soup

I’ve wanted to make something like this for a long time: collect several wild edibles and put them together into a great-tasting dish.  Here, I’ve combined fiddleheads, stinging nettles, shitakes (yeah, well, they’re wild somewhere; I don’t know my wild mushrooms well enough to be safe) and arame (Japanese sea vegetable) for a soup in honor of the wild foods of both land and sea.

Food of the Wild Soup

First, soak about ½ cup of arame in cool water for 10-15 minutes. If you do this first, by the time you finish the other steps, the arame should have plumped up to twice its original size, which means it’s ready.

While that’s happening, please heed the warnings and follow the directions for preparing nettles seen here.

After you’re done blanching the nettles, you’ll need to do the same for the fiddleheads (but a minute or two, once, is long enough).

Next, you need a dashi, which is a Japanese broth flavored with sea vegetable (usually kombu) and bonito flakes. If you don’t have these weird ingredients – I never do – use a vegetable stock and improvise with some dried nori (the seaweed they wrap sushi in) and some fish sauce (or fish stock). Put 4 cups of dashi/stock on the back burner, add some grated ginger if you like (I like) and a teaspoon of soy sauce, and just let it start simmering.

Meanwhile, heat a small amount of oil (not olive oil, here. Safflower, grapeseed, peanut would work) in a skillet. Add 5 or 6 chopped shitake caps and 1 small leek, sliced (white part only). Add a pinch of salt and a dash of sake (optional).

Add the fiddleheads and nettles, season with salt and black pepper and stir to incorporate.

When the shitakes are slightly browned, add mixture to the dashi. Keep heat low. Add the arame.

Before serving, take about ¼ cup of the broth and add to 2-3 tablespoons of red miso to dissolve. Add the dissolved miso back to the pot, stir and serve.

I serve this with udon noodles, which I prepare separately to prevent them from sucking up all the liquid in the soup.

Here are some other articles and comments about nettles:

"The Common Stinging Nettle" by Euell Gibbons, writing for Vermont Weathervane

"Stinging nettles -- I cooked them and lived!" at Chowhound

"Stinging Nettles Need a New Name!" at OrganicMania

"Mini Specialist| Food Found: Stinging Nettles" by William Snyder, writing for WSJ

Check out these recipes:

Nettles pasta with fava beans, from No Recipes

Spring Tonic Nettles Soup, from Wild Food Ways

Tricia's Vegetable Tart . . . with Fiddleheads, mais oui

I have never gone wrong with this tart. I have made it many different ways: with swiss chard and mushrooms, with kale and asparagus, with shallots or onions carmellized in balsamic vinegar, with a whole wheat crust -- it's such a versatile, forgiving winner. Even my dad loved it. I packed up two slices for my parents as they were getting ready to go to Wells, ME for the weekend, and my dad "sampled" a corner of a piece and then proceeded to eat the rest of it.

Here's the recipe for the tart I served yesterday.

Vegetable Tart with Fiddleheads

 1 ¾ c. flour

¾ tsp. salt

1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 c. cold water

2 tbs. olive oil

1 med. leek, sliced, white and light green parts only

2 cloves garlic, minced

¾ - 1 lb. spinach, chopped

½ -3/4 c. fiddleheads

salt and pepper to taste

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 c. cottage cheese

1 c. grated Parmesan cheese

 

Preheat the oven to 425.

Make the crust. Whisk the flour and salt with a fork. Stir in oil and water. Dough will come together in a ball but will be too sticky to roll – press into pie plate. Puncture a few times with fork and bake for about 10-15 minutes.

 Make the vegetables: Heat the oil. Sweat the leeks for about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and fiddleheads, s&p to taste. Sautee until spinach is wilted but still bright.

 

Make the custard and finish: Mix the eggs with the cheeses. Pour in the vegetables. Pour into the pre-baked pie crust.

Bake at 375 for 25-35 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before serving. Serves 6-8.

Fiddleheads and Mushrooms in Beurre Blanc

Beurre Blanc is one of those classic French sauces that you think will be difficult and involved, but when you actually check the recipe, turns out to be pretty simple. In the beurre blanc (white butter sauce) that I prepared tonight, there are only 7 ingredients:

6 tbs. vegetable stock or dry white wine

2 tbs. white wine vinegar

3 tbs. minced shallots

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbs. half-and-half or heavy cream

8 tbs. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

I've made curries that were three times as long. It should be noted that to keep the sauce lightly colored, white pepper is preferred. I ran out, so my sauce tonight had a more "rustic" look with the addition of black pepper. I also used Himalayan pink salt. Ooo, fancy.  

But, preparation doesn't start with the sauce -- it starts (and ends) with fiddleheads. If you haven't read my inaugural post and the advice about preparing fiddleheads, you might want to take a gander if this is a new food for you. Otherwise, read on.

After the fiddleheads (use 1 1/2 cups) have been properly washed and trimmed, blanch in boiling water to which you have added up to a teaspoon of baking soda. This is Memere's trick for taking any bitterness out of the vegetable. But don't leave them in there too long -- one minute! -- I think I left mine in too long tonight because I found them a bit bland. My memere's cooking tends to be a little overcooked for my tastes, well-salted and peppered, but otherwise not very perky or seasoned. Try to avoid this pitfall.

Meanwhile (and it won't be a long while, so have everything ready to go), heat a tablespoon of butter in a small skillet. When melted, add

• 1 c. sliced mushrooms

I used shitakes. When they're ready, add the fiddleheads. Sautee lightly until the fiddleheads are cooked but still bright green. Remove from skillet.

Prepare the beurre blanc. Heat everything up to the s + p in the list above until reduced by about 1/2 - 3/4. Stir in

• half-and-half

Remove from heat and KEEP WHISKING. That's important. Whisk in, like it's your job, one piece at a time:

• the 8 tbs. of butter

Once the butter is combined, gently fold in the fiddleheads and mushroom and serve immediately.

I served (to myself) the fiddleheads with some brown rice and green lentils (very simple -- just boiled in half water, half vegetable stock) and a fennel-orange-fig salad, dressed simply with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

I just want to add that even though I eat mostly healthy foods, this dish contains a HUGE amount of butter and should be eaten in moderation. I was going to put goat cheese on the salad, but frankly, I couldn't even think about it. I'm stuffed.