Wash your greens. To wash greens, fill a large bowl with cold water (you can use the base of your salad spinner), add the greens, swish them around a bit, and let them soak for a few minutes. Then lift the greens out of the water; don’t pour into a strainer or you’ll be pouring all the dirt back onto the greens. Repeat until no more grit comes off. Check the central ribs of the lettuce leaves to be sure—grit likes to hide there. A nice cold soak will also crisp up the greens. If you’re going to cook the greens, you can leave a few drops of water clinging to them. For salad greens, spin the leaves until they’re completely dry—this is important!
Mix and match textures. I find the biggest differences among lettuce varieties is in their colors and textures, more so than in the flavors, so build a salad mix with lots of contrast. For crunch, try any of the romaines, including the adorable Little Gem. For a softer, floppier lettuce, buttercrunch is wonderful—tender yet with some crunch at the root end. Iceberg (which deserves more respect than it gets) adds crispness and succulence. I am not a fan of any of the loose-leaf varieties, especially oakleaf lettuces. I find them way too eager to wilt.
Add a bitter bite. With more assertive bites and slightly tougher leaves, young greens such as kales and mustards will give you the flavor punch you want. As these greens mature during the season, I like to briefly wilt them in a sauté pan with some garlic, olive oil, and olives. They still have the taste of spring, but with the new dimension that heat brings.
“Herbed” Butter with Warm Bread
This is one of my favorite things to have on the table during the spring and summer. It’s impossible to write a precise recipe for this, so use this as a guide to set you up for success.
Bread and butter all by itself is one of the perfect things in life. Good butter—grass-fed, real butter, the yellow, almost cheeselike butter—is popping up at farmers’ markets in small batches and is even showing up on supermarket shelves. Butter has gotten a bad rap, but finally the nutrition world is realizing that it’s actually quite good for us. One of the healthiest, most brilliant people I know—Eliot Coleman of Four Season Farm in Maine—thinks it’s the perfect food. He eats it almost like peanut butter, spread on the bread so thickly that he can see his teeth marks after he takes a bite.
Once you have found some good butter to celebrate, gather the herbs, edible flowers, shoots, baby greens . . . just mix it up. The end result will be stunning and will tell a story—every bite is unique.
Here’s how you do it: Smear the butter flat on a cutting board or plate, season generously with flaky salt, several cranks of black pepper, and a sprinkle of chile flakes. Then just start layering on the greens and herbs, some grated citrus zest if you have it, toss on some chopped pickles or capers, and keep adding. Place on the table with a nice warm country loaf to rip into and let the good times begin. I’ve never put this on a table without it prompting a lot of conversation and happy faces.
Little Gems with Lemon Cream, Spring Onion, Radish, and Mint
Little Gems are a mini romaine type of lettuce—compact little heads with crisp cores and tender green leaves. Because of their size, a half head makes a perfect portion, or you can separate the slightly ruffled leaves and toss them to make a loose salad.
» Serves 4
4 small or 2 large heads Little Gem lettuce, cores cut out, leaves washed and dried well in a salad spinner
1 small bunch spring onions or scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops), very thinly sliced on an angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well
About ½ bunch radishes, scrubbed, tops trimmed off, thinly sliced, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well
1 small handful fresh mint leaves
⅓ cup Lemon Cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup Dried Breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons salted roasted sunflower seeds
Put the lettuce, spring onions, radishes, and mint in a large bowl. Add the lemon cream and toss well (your clean hands are the best tool for this) to distribute. Season with salt and lots of pepper, toss again, taste, and adjust with more dressing or salt and pepper.
Toss in the breadcrumbs and sunflower seeds and serve right away.
Butter Lettuce with New Potatoes, Eggs, and Pancetta Vinaigrette
Here’s the salad you’ll want to make on that first warm spring day, when you realize that lunch on the patio is once again a possibility. The salad is light and springlike, yet the potatoes, eggs, and pancetta dressing make it substantial enough to be a whole meal.
» Serves 4
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ pound new potatoes, scrubbed and halved, or quartered if larger than a walnut
About ½ cup Pancetta Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon grainy Dijon mustard
1 large head butter lettuce, leaves separated, washed, and dried well in a salad spinner
2 Soft-Cooked Eggs
1 small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ cup pickled onions, store-bought or homemade (optional)
½ lemon
Fill a large pot with cold water and add salt until it tastes like the sea. Add the potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Because they are new potatoes, this will happen fast, so check often so they don’t overcook. Once cooked, drain the potatoes and let them cool slightly.
Warm ⅓ cup of the pancetta vinaigrette in a saucepan and stir in the mustard. Add the potatoes and shake to coat. Set the potatoes aside.
Put the lettuce leaves in a large bowl. Pull the eggs into pieces and add to the lettuce, along with the parsley and pickled onions (if using). Toss, squeeze over the lemon half, season lightly with salt and pepper, and toss again.
Add the potatoes and another 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette. Toss gently, taste, and add more vinaigrette if you like.
Serve while the potatoes are slightly warm.
Bitter Greens Salad with Melted Cheese
Baking a salad might make you nervous, but a quick moment in the oven will only wilt the greens slightly and yet melt the cheese so that it cloaks the greens nicely.
» Serves 6
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large head radicchio (¾ pound), cored and coarsely shredded
5 ounces arugula
¼ pound Crucolo, provolone, Taleggio, or Fontina cheese, grated
½ cup roughly chopped lightly toasted hazelnuts
Saba or balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
Heat the broiler to high.
Whisk the red wine vinegar with ¼ cup olive oil in a large bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. Add the radicchio and arugula and toss to coat them nicely. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Pile the salad on ovenproof plates or an ovenproof platter and top with the cheese. Broil the salad just until the cheese is melted, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the toasted hazelnuts on top and finish with a drizzle of saba. Serve right away.
Sautéed Greens with Olives (Misticanza)
The key to this dish is to cook it quickly at high heat so that you can taste each green in your mix. Too much cooking and you create one big mono flavor. Treat this recipe as a base for improvising; you can take it in so many directions—dress it with a touch of Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce or Citrus Vinaigrette or use a soy sauce dressing.
» Serves 4
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon dried chile flakes
10 cups lightly packed torn mixed greens (such as kale, turnip greens, beet greens, escarole, and hearty lettuces)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup black
olives, such as Kalamata, pitted and halved
About 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Heat a glug of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes—don’t let it burn! Add the chile flakes and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the greens a handful at a time, tossing until wilted between additions (if you can, start with the tougher greens such as kale or escarole). Season generously with salt and black pepper and cook until all the greens are wilted and softened, about 3 minutes more after your last addition.
Add the olives and 2 tablespoons lemon juice and toss to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more chile flakes, salt, or lemon juice. Finish with a nice drizzle of olive oil.
Onion Family (Early Season)
Unlike mature onions that are cured for longer storage, early alliums (the name for the onion family) are all very juicy, sweet, and perishable, whether slender green onions, young shallots, bulbous young Walla Wallas, or the forest-foraged wild ramps that I love so much. With these early-season onions, you get not only the bulb but also the fresh greens—a bonus! I use both the whites and the greens, as I do with scallions (which are available year-round). The whites will generally be mild and sweet, while the greens have a stronger oniony bite.
Use them up. Don’t buy them if you don’t have plans to use them within several days. If your onions feel a touch slimy when you retrieve them from the fridge, you can simply peel off their outer layer.
Cheap tricks. When serving scallions raw, as in salads, I like to use my “ice water trick” to mellow any bite and crisp them up. When cooking, remember that all onions are full of sugar, so they take kindly to high-heat methods such as grilling. But that same sugar content puts them at risk for burning, so be vigilant.
At the market Scallions = green onions. The names are interchangeable. But spring onions are a different thing altogether, though they can look like bulbous scallions. Spring onions are the young versions of onions that will eventually grow into mature, round onions. Look for young spring Walla Wallas or Vidalias for a real treat.
Agrodolce Ramps on Grilled Bread
Ramps are kind of a cult vegetable. They’re only available foraged, so they have that wildness mystique, and their season is about as short-lived as a crocus. Not to mention that they’re one of the first spring edibles, so they truly are celebratory. Their oniony-garlicky bite can be strong, so I always serve them cooked.
» Serves 4 as an appetizer
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch ramps, ends trimmed, bulbs finely sliced, leaves cut across into 2-inch ribbons
¼ teaspoon dried chile flakes
2 tablespoons raisins, plumped in warm water for 15 minutes, drained
1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly toasted
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
Four ½-inch-thick slices country bread
½ recipe Whipped Ricotta
Pour a healthy glug of olive oil into a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced ramp bulbs and chile flakes, and cook until the ramps are soft and fragrant, but not browned, about 2 minutes.
Add the ramp leaves, raisins, and pine nuts, season with salt and black pepper, and cook until all is soft and fragrant, another minute or so. Add the vinegar and toss everything around to deglaze the pan. Cook for about a minute to heat everything through and finish with a drizzle of olive oil. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, vinegar, and chile levels.
Grill or toast the bread, spread a nice thick layer of whipped ricotta on each piece, and top with the ramps and their juices. Serve warm.
Leeks with Anchovy and Soft-Boiled Eggs
Leeks deserve a spot in the limelight for their impressive sweetness. Here they’re roasted until golden brown and balanced out with a healthy amount—this dish can take a lot—of anchovies. Smoked trout would also work well here in place of the anchovies.
» Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a first course
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1¾ pounds leeks (about 3 large), trimmed, halved lengthwise, cleaned well, and cut crosswise into about 4-inch lengths
6 anchovy fillets
About 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 to 4 Soft-Cooked Eggs; number of eggs depends on whether this is a main or first course
2 tablespoons Dried Breadcrumbs
Heat the oven to 425°F.
Drizzle a rimmed baking sheet with a glug of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the leeks, cut side down, on top. Scoot the leeks around so the cut sides get oiled. Drizzle another 2 tablespoons oil over the top and season with salt and pepper.
Roast the leeks until the undersides are browning nicely and the leeks are getting steamy and soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir them around a bit to prevent them from burning, keeping them in a nice cluster toward the center of the baking sheet, and roast until the leeks are very soft and slightly melted, with some browned crunchy pieces around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes longer.
Mash the anchovies with 3 tablespoons lemon juice in a small bowl. Stir in 3 or 4 tablespoons olive oil. Pile the leeks into a bowl, pour the dressing on top, and toss gently. Taste and add more lemon, salt, or pepper as needed.
Arrange the leeks on a platter, gently break the eggs into chunks and distribute over the top, and finish with a sprinkling of the breadcrumbs.
Charred Scallion Salsa Verde
Scallions are underdogs, and I would like to be their champion. Maybe people take them for granted because they’re available in the grocery store year-round, unlike other spring onions. But for me, scallions are my go-to allium. They’re sweet but not too sugary, and they are so easy to handle. Here I cook the hell out of them to develop deeply sweet flavors, then I fold them into a classic Italian salsa verde.
» Makes about 2 cups
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, thick stems trimmed off and reserved, leaves chopped medium fine
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 bunches scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained, and chopped
Measure out half the parsley stems (compost the others or save for another use), trim off the dried end bits of the stems, and very finely slice them crosswise, as you would chives. Combine the parsley stems and leaves in a small bowl and pour on ½ cup olive oil.
Heat a glug of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. Add the scallions in a single layer (cook them in batches if necessary), season with salt and pepper, and weight with another heavy pan (make sure the bottom is clean!) so the scallions are pressed down. Cook until they are charred, fragrant, and limp, 3 to 5 minutes. When the scallions are cool enough to handle, cut them into 1-inch chunks and fold into the parsley mixture.
With a rasp-style grater, zest the lemon into the bowl. Add the capers and season generously with pepper. When you’re ready to serve, halve the lemon and squeeze over about 2 tablespoons lemon juice, toss, and season with salt.
In the kitchen Many recipes direct you to only use the white and light green parts of a scallion. But that’s crazy—all the greens are flavorful and should not be wasted. Just trim off about ½ inch from the top, and of course trim off the hairy roots.
Onions Three Ways, with ’Nduja on Grilled Bread
I love using one ingredient in different ways to compound the flavor. Here I rub the bread with Onion Number One (actually garlic, but it’s in the allium family) and then top the toasts with Onions Two and Three: roasted onions and caramelized whole scallions. If you can find young, tender garlic scapes, add a few along with the scall
ions.
» Serves 4
½ pound young torpedo onions or shallots, ends trimmed and skins removed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 bunches slender spring onions or scallions, trimmed (including ½ inch off the green tops)
Four ½-inch-thick slices country bread
2 garlic cloves, halved
4 ounces ’nduja, slightly soft at room temperature
Heat the oven to 300°F.
Arrange the torpedo onions on a baking sheet and roast until they are very soft and collapsed, 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size and type of onion. Let them cool, then roughly cut into halves or quarters. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, heat a slick of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and arrange the scallions in a single layer in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Put another pan that’s slightly smaller than the skillet right on top of the scallions to press them (be sure the bottom of that pan is clean!). Cook until they are soft and slightly caramelized, 8 to 10 minutes. Let them cool and drain on a paper towel.
Toast the bread under the broiler (or in a toaster) until the edges are nicely browned. Rub the cut garlic over the surface of all the toasts, then drizzle or brush one side with some olive oil.
Spread a nice layer of ’nduja over each toast and top with the soft onion and caramelized scallions. Season with another pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve right away.
At the market ’Nduja is a Calabrian-style salami with an incredible spreadable texture that delivers all the salty, tangy, spicy flavors of a classic firm salami. It isn’t easy to find, but it’s crazy good and worth seeking out.
Six Seasons Page 11
