Cut the peaches in half and remove the stones. If they are not too soft you can twist the cut peach to get at the stone more easily. Toss the halved peaches with olive oil and honey and place on a sheet tray, cut side down.
Roast in a 400 degree oven until just soft but not mushy, about 10 minutes. Removes peaches from the oven and let cool.
Place peaches on a plate and put a spoonful of ricotta on each half. Drizzle with additional honey and olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and a little thyme. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Wild ramps are a delicate-looking plant that add some serious flavor to salads, pasta, lamb and more. They have a strong garlic flavor, and can be consumed from tip to tip.
With their small white bulb, ramps resemble green onions but the leaves are something else altogether—long, oval, and almost silky, with pointed ends. The little pistil or stem is either red or purple. All in all, one sexy plant. (Forgive me if I wax rhapsodic, but I’m a big, big fan.)
One of the last truly seasonal foods available in North America, wild ramps go by many names including wild leek, ramson, and ail de bois.
Found in forests from South Carolina to Canada, and as far west as Missouri and Minnesota, wild ramps are the first patch of edible green to appear after the snows retreat—and treasured by settler families desperate for any fresh food come winter’s end. Ramps represent a healthy dose of vitamins, a tonic for the blood, and some much needed flavor after a winter subsisting on root vegetables.
If You Can Stand the Excitement . . .
Do a quick search and you will find ramp festivals throughout West Virginia this month. The “Feast of the Ramson” is trumpeted with promotional language that verges on the breathless:
Omigod. Why didn’t someone tell me before? All those wasted years.
That was my initial thought when I tucked into farm-fresh eggs for the first time. The color of the yolk was a rich almost taxicab yellow. The flavor came at me on so many levels, like the mixed diet that the chicken had eaten. They even cooked better. Sunny-side-up the egg whites held together rather than spreading out all over the frying pan.
Don’t get me wrong. I thought eggs were an incredible meal before. I just had no idea that fresh eggs—like so much produce—could be so different and better tasting.
Free-Range Eggs: Not the Same as Farm-Fresh
In fact I bought free-range eggs for years, assuming they were better. Then I learned why that label is virtually meaningless. In reality, the USDA allows “the use of the free range egg label for a farm that allows the hen access to the outside for at least 5 minutes per day. It does not mention that the hen even has to get up from the cage and actually go outside.”
Chickens on smaller farms eat all kinds of things. They peck at bugs, grubs and grass, and kitchen scraps. Usually the farmer tosses in some grain augmented with minerals.
Though I tend to focus on flavor and how the hens are taken care of, some research suggests that pasture-raised eggs provide higher levels of omega-3s and vitamins A, B12, and E, and are lower in fat and cholesterol.
You know you have the real McCoy when you pop open a carton and see eggs of all shapes, sizes and colors. Egg color refers to breed rather than what they eat. That said, eggs earlier in the season have much stronger flavor because grass and clover are lush and available.
Eggs last for a long time in your refrigerator. Retailers know this, as eggs take a week or two to reach the store and may sit for another month before being purchased. By comparison, I try to use a carton within a week. One chef I met who used to work for David Bouley said they tested the ideal day to use an egg. As I recall, it was at three days old. And that is the basis for more research and feedback from readers.
The days are getting warmer but the nights are still cool. If you’re lucky enough to have sugar maples or black maples in your backyard, it’s time to get out the buckets, the wood drill, a half-inch bit, and some taps.
Concentrated Sweetness
But don’t start whipping up a stack of flapjacks immediately: just like any other type of farming, turning sap into syrup takes time and work.
First you’ll need a maple at least 10” in diameter. One tap hole can yield five to 15 gallons of sap, though under ideal conditions a tap may yield between 40 and 80 gallons. Depending on its girth, a tree may support up to three tap holes.
Forty gallons of sap boils down to just one gallon of syrup. To accomplish that boiling-down, some Native Americans heated rocks and dropped them into hollowed-out logs filled with sap. Hard work, but think of the reward.
A “Tree Whose Juice Weeps”
In fact at one time maple syrup and sugar were an important part of the North American Indian economy. When impatiently awaiting the bounty of Spring, a happy distraction is welcome; so are the nutrition and much-needed calories.
The Culinary Institute of America, the world’s premier culinary college, spends more than $500,000 a year on produce, dairy, meat, and eggs from two-dozen local farms.
But until recently most incoming chefs didn’t know that there were more than two kinds of potatoes. That changed with the hiring of Paul Wigsten.
You see Paul is a tenth-generation farmer. He is also the full-time produce buyer and farm liaison at the CIA. With passion and brevity he settles questions—from restaurant owners, consumers and even policymakers—about local-sourced product.
Local Food is Less Expensive
By buying local and working with “the guys I knew I could depend on” Paul has been able to double the amount of produce purchased with the same budget. But, wait . . . doesn’t local produce cost five to 20% more than produce shipped across the country? It can but, according to Paul, with local fare there is “no trim, no waste. With California you loose 10 to 20% in kitchen prep.”
Local Food Tastes Better
At the CIA every student is required to take a class called product knowledge. Instructors tend to go with more dramatic “flavor profiles.” Red leaf lettuce is subtle. The flavor is not so different but the texture is crisper. Strawberries and tomatoes not. “We do a side-by-side comparison of tasting of local vs. Florida vs. California strawberries. It’s not a fair test. Local wins hands down.”
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