Soft-Shell Crabs & Spring Vegetable Melange

Butter just goes well with everything Spring—especially if it's homemade from cows that are seeing lush pasture. Then it's almost obscene when you use it to cook soft shellfish.

—Made an Old Bay type seasoning with toasted-then-ground celery seed, coriander, mace, dried chili, and black pepper. Then mixed with a combo of AP flour and rice flour for dredging.

—Dredged the soft-shell crabs with the mixture and pan fried in clarified butter

—Gently cooked local asparagus, snow peas, and baby lettuces with the last of this season's ramps in butter and a variety of herbs (hyssop, fennel, parsley, and thyme). 

—Finished it all with a good spritzing of lemon.

Had with an incredible biodynamic 2010 Roter Veltliner (apparently not related to the Gruner) from Wimmer Czerny. Deep stone fruit nose with tons of acidity. I'm getting to love Austria.

Lamb Chops & Asparagus Gratin

Vegetables and cheese kind of take me back to the mid 90's and the microwave and the Green Giant. But Nigel Slater has been helping to disabuse me of the idea that this combo somehow low-brow.

—Took lightly steamed local asparagus and tossed it with cream, salt, thyme, garlic, and dried red pepper—then topped with cheddar and parm to darken under the broiler.

—Pan fried local lamb chops over high heat and basted with butter, thyme, and garlic

Had with a stunning, round, elegant, and floral (let's say violet notes that I usually associate with Northern Rhone wines) Cotes du Rhone from Marcel Richaud ("Terre de Galets"). It's far better wine than I deserve, but when life gives you a gift, the least you can do is appreciate the damn thing.

More new Beach House on the radio, btw.

Wild Salmon, Risotto Cakes

There's something really gratifying about repurposing food. Last night it was soft, tonight it was crispy.

—Made a little cake out of the leftover risotto and fried in butter
—Steamed asparagus and tossed with olive oil and lemon
—Seared salmon in grape seed oil for crispy skin, garnished with chervil

Given the crisp Spring-like weather, a very nice 2007 WesMar RRV Pinot hit the spot. Pinot is for transitions.

Spring Risotto

So this is full on Spring no?

—Sweated onions and ramp bulbs in olive oil, toasted risotto, and added a splash of white Vermouth
—Ladled in homemade chicken stock and a green purée made of the tough ends of the asparagus
—Added in peas and asparagus tips to cook when the risotto was still a bit crunchy, but nearly there
—Added new growth overwintered lettuce and a good wodge of butter and grated parm/reg
—Garnished with a healthy dose of chervil from the garden, a splash of lemon, and a bit of black pepper

Our wine was beautiful apples, fennel, and minerality. Like I'd mentioned before, I'm really getting into Gruner Veltliners and this one was gorgeous—2010 biodynamic GV from Nikolaihof.

Hey—bonus—here's a photo of the steers:

Kedgeree

Kedgeree is perfect Sunday brunch fare. It would have been a great hangover cure if I'd have had one this morning.

—Boiled white rice and two eggs

—Sauteed an onion in butter and added turnip greens and peas

—Flaked smoked trout and tossed into the pan

—Combined all ingredients to heat through and added local Jersey cream and some gratings of nutmeg

—Ate with homemade hot sauce and lots of black pepper

Pork Ribs, Turnips

Pork ribs is satisfying fare.

—Rubbed the meat with a spice rub of coriander, fennel seed, star anise, chile de arbol, pimenton, salt, and fresh thyme. 

—Roasted very slow (225º) for a few hours covered in tinfoil with a little white wine until tender and then cranked up the oven to brown them.

—Cooked some chunky turnips and onions slowly in homemade butter until brown and tossed in the turnip greens at the end and finished with a spritz of lemon and a sprinkling of fennel from the garden.

—As it has been spoken, slow and steady wins the race. There will plenty of time to watch television when you're in the nursing home.

On the wine front, I've been getting into Gruner Veltliners. To me, they're a culmination of everything there is to love about white wine. They're approachable, but complex and subtle with both acidity and roundness—minerality and richness. They are the perfect vegetable wine. Anyway, I'm talking about a 2009 Ott Fass 4. Good stuff.

Daniel Rossen on the radio. 

Shrimp & Sausage Gumbo

Gumbo can be so layered and so clean. Restaurants shouldn't get to deconstruct anything until they can make a great gumbo. Also, more gorgeous Ohio weather that precedes Spring storms.

—Roux in a Le Creuset in the oven, 350º for an hour and a half until a rich brown

—Shrimp stock from ILBS gulf prawns

—Added onion, celery, the last of last season's garlic, red and jalapeno peppers and okra from the garden from the freezer, thyme, bay leaves, a little smoked pimenton, and local smoked sausage

—Cooked for about a half hour, turned off the heat, added shrimp, stirred in filé, and served over rice with Spring cilantro and ramps to garnish

Also, there's nothing like a crisp Muscadet to bring out irony notes in seafood. So we had a 2010 Muscadet Sevre et Maine by Marc Olivier & Remi Branger. It's crisp and minerally, but with more fruit than you might expect from a Muscadet (or at least more than I might expect). Crazy value.

Billy Taylor on the radio.