Spring Edibles!

Can I just say, I love ramps. Not the alternative to stairs, I'm talking about the springtime, limited edition, wild leek-type vegetable. Some springtime edibles are overrated, that's right, I'm talking to you fiddleheads. Ramps however (and wild mushrooms and fresh asparagus) are the real deal, delicious eats. I'm going to spend a few moments on each of the aforementioned yummy things and provide a recipe to boot! Happy Spring!!!


Ramps:
Ramps, also known as spring onions, ramson, wild leeks, wood leeks and wild garlic, are just scrumptious. They are available for a short window each spring and I pretty much eat as many as I can until I can't any longer. If you know someone who forages, lucky you, if not, you can do what I do and spend too much money on them at either City Market or Healthy Living. The appeal that ramps have for me is their delicate oniony/garlicky flavor, not as strong as a scallion, less sharp. And because they grow in large swaths along the banks of rivers and in the upland soils of forests, they have an earthy edge, almost like a truffle. You can do millions of things with ramps, ramp aioli, ramp pesto, and pickled ramps. But I'm a purist. My favorite method is the simplest.

Grilled Sausages and Grilled Ramps:
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 Italian fennel sausages or other favorite fresh sausages, pricked with fork
1 lb ramps
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat grill.

2. Clean ramps, trimming the roots and slipping off outer skin on bulbs if loose. Rinse thoroughly then pat dry with paper towels. Place cleaned ramps on a platter and drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

3. Place sausages on grill and cook through, turning regularly, about 12 to 15 minutes. Place ramps on lower heat and grill just for about 4 minutes total, until bulbs start to soften and leaves have wilted. Serve immediately with some crusty bread!

Wild Mushrooms:
I feel that again, you are best off knowing a forager or, for that matter, know how to forage yourself. I am too scared to try to learn how to forage mushrooms because the likelihood of me accidentally poisoning myself is great, I will leave it to the pros and instead spend mad dollars on someone else's foraged fungus.
The act of sautéing some fresh wild mushrooms in some butter, and perhaps some garlic, really just busts open the door to Delicious Mushroom Town. You can put them in pasta, on toast and top with a farm-fresh egg. You can fold them into an omelet, top a pizza with them, they instantly make whatever you're eating more fantastic and exotic. Try them over polenta or grits or get wicked fancy and do, the easy to make but always impressive, risotto.

Duck Breast with Wild Mushroom Risotto and Red Wine Gastrique
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds boneless duck breast* (4 boneless breast halves)
9 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 1/2 pounds fresh wild mushrooms
(such as morrels, hen of the woods, chanterelle, or stemmed shiitake); large mushrooms sliced, small mushrooms halved or quartered
7 cups (about) low-salt chicken broth
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup finely chopped leek (white and pale green parts only)
1 1/4 cups arborio rice (8 to 9 ounces)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving (optional)
Red Wine Gastrique (recipe below)

Directions:
1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 of mushrooms and sprinkle with salt. Sauté mushrooms until tender and beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to medium bowl. Working in 3 more batches, repeat with 6 tablespoons butter, remaining mushrooms, and salt and pepper.

2. Bring 7 cups chicken broth to simmer in medium saucepan; keep warm.

3. Trim excess fat from duck breasts. Heat a 12-inch heavy skillet over high heat until very hot. Pat breasts dry and season with salt. Put breasts, skin sides down, in skillet and reduce heat to moderate. Cook breasts 20 minutes, or until skin is crisp and mahogany-colored, removing fat from skillet as it is rendered with a metal bulb baster (or very carefully pouring it off). Turn breasts and cook about 2 minutes for medium-rare or to desired doneness. Transfer breasts to a plate and keep warm, covered loosely.

4. Melt remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add leek, sprinkle with salt, and sauté until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Add rice and increase heat to medium. Stir until edges of rice begin to look translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add white wine and stir until liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup warm chicken broth; stir until almost all broth is absorbed, about 1 minute. Continue adding broth by 3/4 cupfuls, stirring until almost all broth is absorbed before adding more, until rice is halfway cooked, about 10 minutes. Stir in sautéed mushrooms. Continue adding broth by 3/4 cupfuls, stirring until almost all broth is absorbed before adding more, until rice is tender but still firm to bite and risotto is creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, if using. Mound risotto onto plates and serve with duck breasts and gastrique.

Red Wine Gastrique:
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped shallot (2 oz)
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup canned beef broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Bring sugar and 2 tablespoons water to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then boil, swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is a golden caramel, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully add vinegar, then add shallot and swirl pan over low heat until caramel is dissolved, about 1 minute.
Stir in wine and boil until reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Add beef broth and boil until reduced to about 1 cup, about 8 minutes. Whisk together cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons water, then whisk into sauce and boil, whisking, 1 minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper and keep warm, covered.

Asparagus:
Asparagus is available year round, so no biggie right? Wrong! Spring asparagus is superior! Fresh fat tubes of flavor, they are good sauteed, roasted and shaved raw into a salad. Tip: peel the ends of your asparagus, they can be rather woody and it literally takes two seconds with a peeler to shave the mid-ends off, you get a beautiful spear with zero effort.

Sole Wrapped Asparagus with Citrus Beurre Blanc
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons chopped shallot
4 (2- by 1-inch) strips fresh orange zest
1 lb medium asparagus
4 skinless sole or flounder fillets
1/2 cup water

For beurre blanc
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
cayenne
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice


Directions
1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.

2. Brush a 13- by 9-inch roasting pan with some of melted butter, then sprinkle shallot and zest in pan. Trim asparagus to about 7 inches long, then peel spears starting from 2 inches below tip of each.

3. Arrange fish fillets, skinned sides up, on a work surface and season with salt and pepper. Lay 5 or 6 asparagus perpendicularly across 1 fillet and wrap fish around them to make a bundle. Repeat with remaining fillets and asparagus. Transfer bundles, seam sides down, to roasting pan and brush fish with remaining melted butter. Season with salt and pepper, then add water to pan. Cover pan tightly with foil and bake until fish is just cooked through and asparagus is crisp-tender, about 20 minutes.

4. Make beurre blanc while fish bakes. Boil orange juice with shallot in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to moderately low, then whisk in 1 tablespoon butter, whisking constantly. Add remaining butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly, adding each piece before previous one has completely melted, and lifting pan from heat occasionally to cool mixture. Remove from heat and stir in salt, cayenne, and lemon juice.

5. Transfer fish with a slotted spatula to a platter then spoon sauce over fish and serve.

Happy spring eating friends!