Tasty Greens and Crawling Things
Spring, glorious spring, you have arrived! And with a big flirty smile, a beguiling wink and the cheeky flick of a pretty finger you have inspired the asparagus, the ramps, the nettles and the wild arugula to stretch their sleepy greens up out of the damp chilly earth.
Oh, how I love spring! And, even better than chocolate rabbits and brightly colored eggs, are the first greens at the farmer's market. But, alas, my friends, I am not the only one who enjoys those wonderful earthy nibbles.
Two weeks ago, I came home on Monday evening, bubbling with excitement about the ramps, wild arugula and wild watercress I had picked up at the Union Square Green Market that morning. Not only were these some of the first spring greens, but they were wild! Foraged! One step closer to mother nature than even a cultivated farm plant could be. I could only imagine how fresh, how delightful they would taste.
In the kitchen I trimmed the bottom-most stems off the watercress and dropped the bunch into a large pot of water. I found a small snail on the sink ledge, and assuming it was a single unfortunate wanderer, I put it in the trash bag on the bunch of the bottom stems, so it would have something to nibble.
I know. It seems silly. Making sure a snail who will most likely be flattened in 48 hours by the garbage truck compactor has something to eat. I can't help it. I used to be one of those girls who would mercilessly crush the life out of spiders and any other bug unfortunate enough to attempt sharing my living space.
Occasionally my father would intercept with a catch-and-release maneuver, explaining that spiders were good, helpful citizens in our eco-world. And boy aren't they neat, too? I thought he was a little crazy then, but now I appreciate his fervor to let all living things go on doing just that. And, I love that he is also a man who will stop in the middle of a 50-mile bike ride to rescue a snapping turtle from the middle of the road or take home a random, lost parakeet who has just drawn blood. He has a great fearless love for nature in all forms, and a fascinated respect for insects that I did not seem to inherit.
When I first started buying greens, I would throw out any batch containing evidence of insects, even if it was just one little inch worm. It's awful, I know... a terrible waste of food. I've been training myself slowly over the years to rinse well, take a deep breath when I find a creepy crawly, extract it from the greens and toss it into the discarded trimmings.
The trick is really to catch the stragglers before you cook the greens. And sometimes, you just strike out. For example, a few months ago, I cooked a head of broccoli infested with camouflaged worms that had hung on through the rinsing. A stronger gastronomer than I might have eaten it anyway, but I promptly lost my appetite.
While the watercress soaked, I rinsed the ramps. When I came back to the pot, there was an inch-long slug on one of the leaves sticking out of the water. I looked more closely and saw tiny snails on the rim of the pot and on many other leaves. And I thought, what do restaurants do in this situation? Then I tossed the bunch. I don't know what they do. How do you get an entire family of snails out of a bunch of watercress?
I didn't fare much better with the arugula. After 10 minutes of rinsing and a go round in the salad spinner, the leaves still had some unidentifiable goo on them that looked suspiciously like slug remnants.
I suppose wild is just exactly that. There is no one curbing the snail population. And, although I failed to extricate the snails and eat the greens, I did stop myself from killing a spider in my bathroom this week. And, I was even sad when I found it dead by natural forces on my bathroom floor the next morning.
It was a much better week for me at the Green Market as well. Last night, I cooked a delicious dinner with ramps, asparagus, crimini mushrooms and a delicious Bavarian beef sausage which I served over brown rice pasta. The sausage was from Grazin' Angus Acres, a farm that raises grass-fed cattle and uses wind power for much of their electrical needs.
Well, ladies and g's, that's all I've got. Stay tuned and enjoy those green spring treats before the snails have devoured them all!
Spring, glorious spring, you have arrived! And with a big flirty smile, a beguiling wink and the cheeky flick of a pretty finger you have inspired the asparagus, the ramps, the nettles and the wild arugula to stretch their sleepy greens up out of the damp chilly earth.
Oh, how I love spring! And, even better than chocolate rabbits and brightly colored eggs, are the first greens at the farmer's market. But, alas, my friends, I am not the only one who enjoys those wonderful earthy nibbles.
Two weeks ago, I came home on Monday evening, bubbling with excitement about the ramps, wild arugula and wild watercress I had picked up at the Union Square Green Market that morning. Not only were these some of the first spring greens, but they were wild! Foraged! One step closer to mother nature than even a cultivated farm plant could be. I could only imagine how fresh, how delightful they would taste.
In the kitchen I trimmed the bottom-most stems off the watercress and dropped the bunch into a large pot of water. I found a small snail on the sink ledge, and assuming it was a single unfortunate wanderer, I put it in the trash bag on the bunch of the bottom stems, so it would have something to nibble.
I know. It seems silly. Making sure a snail who will most likely be flattened in 48 hours by the garbage truck compactor has something to eat. I can't help it. I used to be one of those girls who would mercilessly crush the life out of spiders and any other bug unfortunate enough to attempt sharing my living space.
Occasionally my father would intercept with a catch-and-release maneuver, explaining that spiders were good, helpful citizens in our eco-world. And boy aren't they neat, too? I thought he was a little crazy then, but now I appreciate his fervor to let all living things go on doing just that. And, I love that he is also a man who will stop in the middle of a 50-mile bike ride to rescue a snapping turtle from the middle of the road or take home a random, lost parakeet who has just drawn blood. He has a great fearless love for nature in all forms, and a fascinated respect for insects that I did not seem to inherit.
When I first started buying greens, I would throw out any batch containing evidence of insects, even if it was just one little inch worm. It's awful, I know... a terrible waste of food. I've been training myself slowly over the years to rinse well, take a deep breath when I find a creepy crawly, extract it from the greens and toss it into the discarded trimmings.
The trick is really to catch the stragglers before you cook the greens. And sometimes, you just strike out. For example, a few months ago, I cooked a head of broccoli infested with camouflaged worms that had hung on through the rinsing. A stronger gastronomer than I might have eaten it anyway, but I promptly lost my appetite.
While the watercress soaked, I rinsed the ramps. When I came back to the pot, there was an inch-long slug on one of the leaves sticking out of the water. I looked more closely and saw tiny snails on the rim of the pot and on many other leaves. And I thought, what do restaurants do in this situation? Then I tossed the bunch. I don't know what they do. How do you get an entire family of snails out of a bunch of watercress?
I didn't fare much better with the arugula. After 10 minutes of rinsing and a go round in the salad spinner, the leaves still had some unidentifiable goo on them that looked suspiciously like slug remnants.
I suppose wild is just exactly that. There is no one curbing the snail population. And, although I failed to extricate the snails and eat the greens, I did stop myself from killing a spider in my bathroom this week. And, I was even sad when I found it dead by natural forces on my bathroom floor the next morning.
It was a much better week for me at the Green Market as well. Last night, I cooked a delicious dinner with ramps, asparagus, crimini mushrooms and a delicious Bavarian beef sausage which I served over brown rice pasta. The sausage was from Grazin' Angus Acres, a farm that raises grass-fed cattle and uses wind power for much of their electrical needs.
Well, ladies and g's, that's all I've got. Stay tuned and enjoy those green spring treats before the snails have devoured them all!
Thanks for a great read!
ReplyDeleteTwo posts in one week from NYC friends featuring ramps! Love it. The other was on FB, so I linked to UG on her wall. She got lots of questions about how to cook etc, so maybe you'll get a couple of new subscribers.
ReplyDelete