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.

A Carbonara

Wow—what a night out. It's all balmy with barn swallows darting around for some swallowy unknown purpose. Anyway, what I mean to talk about is how I will never allow an old Italian person tell me how to make a carbonara. But you certainly can if you'd like.

—Started with local bacon, ramps from the woods out yonder, new growth thyme, and dried hot chilies to render and get lovely with a splash of wine (more on that in the payoff)

—In went turnip greens and Spring growth kale and brussels sprout leaves

—Boiled fusilli in salted water

—Mixed beautiful local Jersey cream—getting yellower by the week by the way—a pastured egg yolk, and parm-reg in a separate bowl

—Mixed it all together off the heat and finished with parsley and green ramp bits

—Ate on the porch

Drank a bottle of 2009 Mosse Chenin from Anjou. It's consistently one of my favorite bottles—all apples and pears (it is Anjou), but a bit of Christmas spice—which is to say there's a richness there with a hint of time-gone-by. So it's really the best sort of wine.

Newest Beach House on the radio.

Leg of Lamb, Turnips, & Asparagus

I love roasting a large joint of meat. It's a novelty and a luxury. 

—Last Fall's pasture raised bone-in leg of lamb from friends of ours, rubbed with a paste of garlic, thyme, rosemary, anchovies, parsley, and olive oil—roasted in a very slow oven for hours until uniformly medium rare.

—Sweet local Spring veg, glazed in reduced lamb jus (from our resting roast) and a spot of homemade butter.

Had with a bottle of Cotes Du Rhone—2009 Le P'tit Martin by Domaine de l’Oratoire St-Martin. It's a pretty wine with lots of young fruit, but good minerality.

Chicken Salad & Ramps

When life gives you leftover chicken, make chicken salad. Do not add bells and whistles because it doesn't need them.

—Homemade bread and here's the secret: total neglect. We mix up local flour with our starter, throw it in the fridge for a day, get it out the morning we want to bake it and let it at room temperature until after work, form it and pop it into the oven. I'm not kidding. Check out Tartine Bread.

—Made a mayo with pastured eggs, dijon mustard, half grapeseed oil/olive oil, lemon, and ramp bits. Added salted capers, dried currants, celery, parsley, and leftover roasted chicken breast from the previous post.

—Finished with some slices of local cheddar and survivor speckled romaine. How it managed the winter is anybody's guess.

And nothing like a great Loire Valley Chenin to pair with it. We got into a 2009 Savenniéres from Domaine du Closel. It's yeasty and round with perfect mouthfeel, but plenty of acidity. Went well with the chicken salad as you may well imagine.

Bowerbirds on the radio.