where the wild things are. no.15. eggs and ramp. easter breakfast.

What a gorgeous day it was here in New York! Spring has finally arrived and ramp season is in full swing both in the city and the forest. We celebrated by making poached eggs over rosti with sauteed ramp greens. (the greens were left over after making pickled ramps. The greens have a soft woodsy taste. I don't find ramps to be especially strong in flavor despite their intense onion aroma) The Green Market at Union Square this week was such an inspiration. I couldn't help but to pick up these beautiful organic eggs to accompany the ramps we gathered on our land upstate.

 Sauteed ramp Greens

1 bunch of ramps

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sea salt

Cracked black pepper

Rinse the ramps under cold water to remove any dirt or debris.

Gently peel back the  lower outer most layer of the ramp and discard.  If the roots are on the ramps the outermost layer can be a bit transluscent and slimy, this is what you want to get rid of!

Cut the hairy root ends off the cleaned ramps and discard.

If you are using the bulb end of the ramps for pickling, cut them just above the pink stem, This will give you the bulb end for pickling and the green for sauteeing. You could opt to just sautee the whole cleaned ramp if you wish. I did it this way because I was using the bulbs for pickling.

Pat the greens dry and and plop them ino a large cast iron skillet.

Add a drizzle of olive oil.

Toss the greens over low heat until JUST wilted. do not overcook.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over rosti with a poached egg or on any grain or toasts. Eat them any way you would a wilted spinch.

 organic eggs

 wild ramps

sauteed ramp greens

poached eggs over rosti with sauteed ramp greens 

 poached eggs over rosti with sauteed ramp greens and pickled ramps

where the wild things are no.14. stinging nettle and mint tea.

This morning we made a fresh stinging nettle and mint tea. A fresh tea or a tisane is really easy to make. A tisane is a herbal or plant infusion made from the leaves, fruits or roots of a plant other than a traditional tea bush. When we were in Sweden last summer we had a different tea every morning at the restaurant Faviken Magasinet. Herbal infusions like this one can be served either hot or cold. One of our favorites at Faviken was a cold juniper infusion.

As with any wild plant, make sure you properly identify it before eating it. Nettles are available this time of the year at greenmarkets or in the wild. They are definitely available at the Union square Greenmarket here in New York. If you choose to harvest them yourself, wear gloves and long sleeves and pants! Always make sure you are harvesting from a pesticide free area.

2 loosely packed cups of stinging nettles. ( wear gloves when handling.)

1 cup fresh mint leaves.

 Set tea water to boil.

Place the mint and nettles in your teapot. You can chop the nettles and the mint if you wish or use them in their whole form.

When the water is boiling, pour over the nettles and mint leaves and leave to steep for 8 to 10 minutes. The boiling water and the steep time erradicate the sting in the stinging nettles, so be sure to leave it to steep for the entire time!

The tea will take on a beautiful soft green color and subtle grassy woody flavor.

Drink it straight or add a little milk and honey.

where the wild things are no. 13. stinging nettle and spring garlic soup.

NETTLES

According to one of my very favorite books, The Dictionary of Gastronomy 1969 which offers concise little blurbs of information of all things gastronomic; “Nettles are a troublesome weed sometimes called stinging nettle. They are nourishing enough to eat if picked when young and tender. Country housewives cook nettles as spinach and in Eire, nettle soup is a specialty. Nettle beer is also made in some countryside districts in Britain."

Though I won’t be attempting Nettle beer anytime soon, nettles have been on my mind since encountering the nettle and pecorino pizza at Pizzaiolo in Oakland last month. Nettles are not unfamiliar to me. My relationship with them, however, has always been a bitter one. As a country kid, left to my own devices, I had more than the occasional encounter with the tiny stinging welts that cover your flesh once you come into contact with them. In the summer, we kept several bottles of witch hazel on hand to combat just such encounters. Nettles grow in the tall grass, at the woods edge, in abandoned building lots and surround blackberry bushes as though they are standing guard against little hands of intruders.

Nettles, have a long history as both a food source and a medicinal plant. Perhaps you have the fairly common nettle tea or a nettle pesto? Nettles, which must be blanched to be used in cooking in order to remove the toxins from the stinging hollow needle like hairs, taste a lot like  spinach and are full of vitamins and minerals. Why not just eat spinach you ask? The whole process of battling this wild plant is fun. It is a challenge. Why not get to know some of your wild edibles, especially those that are abundant not endangered, long seasoned and often free. I do admit that my first sip of nettle soup was taken with a great deal of trepidation. I waited for my throat to sting wildly. It did not. Nettles are one of the first plants to show up in the early spring thereby making them an attractive and green food source after long winters for settlers and Native Americans. There are many benefits to this little weed that outweigh it’s stinging reputation. As well as from being good for you, the fibers of the plant can be used to make a textile similar to linen, it’s roots can be used to make a  vibrant yellow natural dye. Nettles are rich in nitrogen,  which makies them an excellent compost activator and of course they taste good!

Wear long pants and long sleeves to harvest your nettles and always wear gloves! Clip the top tender most leaves of the plant, throw them into a brown paper bag for transport. When you get them home put the gloves back on and throw them into a salad spinner to wash away any dirt or little critters. When you transfer them to the pot to blanch them wear gloves! They are not safe to touch until they have been blanched or if making  tea after they have been put in the boiling water.

These days, Nettles are popping up on menus all over the country. You can most likely find them, if you prefer to be less adventurous than gathering them yourself, from a local forager or wildcrafter or local green market.

I might just declare this nettle week here at hungry ghost and shoot them all week long!

I did not gather these nettles myself as the weather upstate is still a bit cold on our side of the mountain. I got them both from a wild food gatherer and from a stall at the Union Squre Green Market. Because nettles shrink so much, like any green when cooking, you will need much more than you would think you would need. I look forward to gathering some near my own blackberry bushes once the sun finally shines on delaware country.

Keep in mind if you gather in the wild to always positively identify a plant before consuming it!

Stinging Nettle and Spring Garlic soup

15 loosley packed cups of nettles

1 spring garlic

Three small shallots

3tblspoons butter

1 qt. of organic chicken stock

8 cups of water

bowl of ice for plunge bath

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh ground nutmeg to taste (optional)

Nettle blossoms for garnish (optional)

Method

Set 8 cups of water in a large pot to boil.

When boiling (with gloves) add your stinging nettles to blanch.

Quickly remove them once blanched and plunge them in an ice bath.

Squeeze the excess water from the nettles and set them aside ( they will be  a mere shadow of their former self at this point. greatly reduced in volume.

Chop the spring garlic bulb and the shallots into small pieces.

Add the butter to a medium size soup pot and melt over a low heat.

Add the onion and the garlic to sautee until just translucent and soft.

Remove from the heat.

Chop the ball of blanched nettles into coarse pieces.

Add the chopped nettles to the melted butter and sauteed onions and return to a low heat, Cook for two minutes stirring constantly.

Add the quart of chicken broth and simmer the onions, garlic, nettles and broth for twenty or so minutes until the nettles are very soft.

Remove from the heat and puree the whole mixture in a blender.

Run the soup mixture through a fine sieve o remove any large particles.

Return the soup to the pot and heat to serve.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with garlic mustard blossoms and fresh cracked pepper.

Serve with a hard boiled egg and some ramp butter on your favorite bread!

 

 

where the wild things things are no.12. dandelion.

There is nothing quite like the first signs of spring. It is still relatively cold up here in the Catskills but the first signs of spring are all around. The woods are colored with vibrant green patches of ramp and the edges of nearby streams are dotted with clusters of wild watercress. In my own yard and bleak garden beds are a few renegade early dandelions. The name dandelion comes from the French word Dent de Lion, meaning lion's tooth. It is named so for it's jagged sharp tooth like points on its leaves. I decided to cook the dandelions I needed to pull from the garden beds and to roast the roots for a coffee substitute. The best time for dandelion greens, which are rich in vitamin A and C and Calcium, is when they are quite small early in the season before they produce flower buds. Later in the season they become too bitter. The early settlers used dandelion as a spring tonic to get a boost of the vitamins they lacked over the long cold winters.

My grandmother used to talk about eating wild greens both dandelion and chicory which grew wild in the hills of Puglia. I am not sure she really got her fill living in Long Island City. When she moved to Vermont in the mid 60's she was able to get clean pesticide free wild greens from the local farmers.

The whole plant is edible from the leaves to the flower to the roots. I sautéed the greens and made some dandelion toasts as well as a dandelion frittata. I then roasted the roots on a baking sheet until they were brittle and made quite a delicious coffee like substitute. In fact, I could grow to like the roasted dandelion roots very much.

You don't need a yard to get your dandelion on; they are available in the spring at most farmers markets. I saw they were starting to turn up the past few weeks at the Union Square Greenmarket. Prepare them anyway you would sautéed greens or make a pesto or a soup. The possibilities are endless. How will you get your spring tonic on?

I will post recipies in the next few days..but really this is meant to inspire whatever dandelion recipe you can conjure up!

 

dandelion and pecorino  frittata

dandelion and pecorino  frittata

 

sautéed dandelion greens with bacon

 sauteed dandelion toasts with shallot vingrette and pecorino, top with a poached egg.

prparing the roots for roasting

 roasted dandelion roots

 steeped dandelion root

where the wild things are. jerusalem artichokes.

The Jerusalem artichoke, sometimes referred to as the Sunchoke or Sunroot, really has nothing to do with what we know of as an artichoke. It is a plant that was highly valued and cultivated by Native Americans. I have read that the Spanish and Italian settlers called it Girasol, their word for Sunflower, which was later bastardized to Jerusalem. Over time, the cultivation of Jerusalem artichokes fell away and the tubers became little known save for a select few, until recently, as they have made a huge comeback with chefs and local farmers markets. Quite often what you see is a naturalized Jerusalem artichoke that has been gathered from the wild where they grow along the roadside. The Jerusalem artichoke is now also being being cultivated. I try to make a habit of buying the wild ones but you will easily find culitaved ones at your green market. Wild crafters can easily spot these imposter sunflowers in the summer, as they closely resemble a wild sunflower. The edible tubers, buried beneath the ground are knobby and elongated. The skin of the tuber is a brown or purple. Several tubers are clustered at the base of each stem.  In summer, the plant gets quite tall with bristly woody stems and green pointed leaves. They bear yellow sunflower-like flowers. They remind, me in size, of a Black-Eyed Susan. They lack the large dark seeded center of a traditional sunflower but bear many other similarities. The time to spy your artichoke spot is when the flowers are in bloom. It will not be hard to miss these brilliant patches of wild yellow flowers. Remember it and commit it to memory! Return to your spot in the late fall to dig some artichokes after the first frost. Jerusalem artichokes keep best in the ground so they can be collected straight through to spring. Last weekend, I made a great afternoon snack of fried Jerusalem artichokes along with a  carpaccio of Jerusalem artichokes. The carpaccio was very light crisp and nutty!

Fried Jerusalem Artichokes with Meyer Lemons

Ingredients

6 Jerusalem Artichokes

1 Meyer lemon

Sea Salt

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Method

With a sharp knife cut off the extra bits of roots and eyes; don't peel the artichoke

Shave fine slices lengthwise as well as in the round for some variety with a mandolin

Slice the whole Meyer lemon as thinly as you can with a sharp knife in the round

Fry the artichoke and Meyer lemon together until just golden

Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and let sit on a paper towel to remove any excess oil

Transfer to a plate

Add a little sea salt and eat immediately!!

Carpaccio of Jerusalem Artichokes

Ingredients 

6 artichokes

Extra Virgin Olive oil

1 Lemon

Sea salt

Cracked black pepper

Mint optional

With a sharp small knife cut trim any roots or eyes; leave the skin on Jerusalem

Shave the artichokes with a mandolin lengthwise

Dress  with the juice of one whole lemon, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt and a little cracked black pepper,

I used rosehip salt and a little wild mint but good old-fashioned sea salt will work just fine!