Dinner Under the Cherry Blossoms

My Cherry Tree before Dinner

Spring is such a great time of the year, the asparagus is sending up their first shoots in my country garden, the ramps are out in the woods, and my cherry tree is in full bloom in the city.  The tree covers most of my yard, providing a spectacular umbrella over the table.  It is like a beautiful cloud that comes and goes quickly, lasting barely more than a week, dropping petals like confetti from the skies.

To celebrate the arrival of the flowers, I invited some friends for Sunday dinner under the tree.  I grilled asparagus, portebello mushrooms, peppers, heritage cherry tomatoes, new potatoes, chicken and sausage as well as sautéing some wild leeks I had brought from the country.  For desert, we grilled figs and served with ice cream.

Grilled Potatoes, Asparagus, Ramps, Portabello Mushrooms, and Tomatoes

Grilled Asparagus

a bunch of asparagus

good sea salt, I used sel gris 

Heat grill to hot,  I hold my hand over the grill and if I can count higher than 3 it is not hot enough.  Lay asparagus out on grill perpendicular to the grill.  Cook for about a minute or until asparagus starts to brown, roll asparagus to other side and repeat.  Remove asparagus and arrange on serving plate.  Sprinkle with coarse salt, and serve hot or at room temperature. 

Grilled Asparagus

Grilled Portebello Mushrooms

3 large portebello mushroom caps

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 

1 tablespoon of old style mustard, with grains

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

Make a dressing with the olive oil, balsamic and mustard, garlic.  Brush dressing on both sides of mushroom caps.  Heat grill to medium, hold hand to about 5.  Place caps skin side down on the grill and grill until the juices start to run inside the cap, being careful not to burn the underside.  It takes a few minutes.  Flip the cap and grill for another minute,  and then flip again and re baste with the dressing.  Cook for a minute or two more and remove from grill. 

I like to cut the mushrooms into wedges and serve at room temperature. 

Grilled Peppers

Grilled peppers about to be wrapped in news paper

a selection of red, yellow and orange peppers

2 tablespoons of olive oil

juice of a lemon

seasonal herbs

Place whole peppers on a hot grill.  Char skins of peppers, on all sides.  Remove and wrap in newspaper until cool.  Gently peel the charred skin off the peppers, tear the peppers open and remove core and seeds.  Tear remainder of pepper into strips and place in bowl.  Add olive oil, juice of lemon, and some fresh herbs, and serve room temperature. 

Grilled Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

Grilled Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

3 cups of heirloom cherry tomatoes, or a mixture of red and yellow cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 sprig of basil, leaves coarsely torn

Wash and dry tomatoes.  Coat with olive oil and place in barbecue basket.  Over medium heat grill  tomatoes, shaking often.  When tomatoes begin to split and get a bit of colour, remove and place in a bowl.  Add basil and half of cheese.  Toss.  Add remainder of cheese to top of tomatoes.

Grilled New Potatoes

1 quart of small new potatoes

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt

4 sprigs of fresh thyme, stems removed

Par boil potatoes on stove.  Drain, add  1/2 of olive oil, fresh thyme, and coarse salt, and toss well.  put in grill basket and place over hot grill.  Toss occasionally, until the skins of the potatoes are nicely roasted.   Remove and place in bowl.  Stir in the remainder of olive oil, salt and thyme.  Serve either hot or at room temperature. 

Pickled Wild Leeks or Ramps

My daughter came up north this weekend, and since there were still morels on the front lawn, and lots of wild leeks in the woods, suggested a repeat performance of last week's dinner, complete with cheese.  Because Claire has been off dairy lately, I hadn't anticipated this and was short of Parmesan cheese.  This tuned out to be one of those happy accidents because this week's risotto turned out to be better than last week's.  I am not sure about blog etiquette, however, I have gone back and adjusted the risotto recipe to reflect the reduced cheese.

When digging leeks for the risotto, I noticed the first of the buds were starting to form on the ramps.  This is the first sign of the end of the leek season. Time is running out to preserve ramps, so picked Ramps became the weekend project.

Pickled Wild Leeks (Ramps) will turn a pale pink as they age

I like to pickle the leek bulbs with no seasoning, to allow for more flexibility when using them later. I save the leek greens to use in salads or sauté and serve as a side.

Ingredients

• 50 to 60 wild leeks
• 1/2 cup of white vinegar
• 1/3 cup of rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 250 ml wide mouthed canning jars

Clean wild leeks and cut off greens just above the bulb. Save greens for another use.
Place leek bulbs in a sterilized jar.
Mix vinegars, salt and sugar together in a stainless steel pot and bring to the boil.
Fill jar to 1/2" from top and screw on lid.
Process jar in boiling water for 20 minutes. Tighten lid and store in a dark place until ready to use.  These are best after a couple of weeks.


If you are pickling more than a few bottles, experiment with different spices in some of the bottles.  A half teaspoon of picking spices with a small Tai chili pepper in each  bottle works well.  


And it goes without saying that it is very important to only harvest a very small portion of any wild leek patch, as they take years to develop.  I have read, I forget where, that a large leek bulb may be 20 years old.  I transplanted a patch of wild leeks from the country to the city under some large trees, and while they come up every year, the patch is only a tiny bit larger after 5 years.  

Wild Leek and Morel Risotto

Wild Leek and Morel Risotto

The first spring at our our place in the country near Honeywood, my daughter and I discovered wild leeks in our woods.  A few weeks later we found morels growing under the big old maple tree on the front lawn.  I wasn't sure that these were really morels and so after being reassured by my neighbour that indeed these were the real thing and that morels are one of the few mushrooms that are next to impossible to mistake, I felt I had won the lottery.  

Swath of Wild Leeks in the Woods

It was a cold and wet weekend and risotto was the prefect remedy.  After digging the leeks in the rain, we were thoroughly chilled, so standing over the hot stove doing the slow risotto stir was perfect.  This recipe became an instant family spring ritual.  

Because the morel season is so short, maybe two or three weeks if we are really lucky, and very unpredictable, I tend to invite everyone I can muster on short notice for this annual indulgence.   

First Morel of the Year

This weekend the morels returned, and unlike our first experience, it was a warm and sunny weekend.  Ann was visiting from Perth and shared her fond memories of Sylvia Boorman who wrote "Wild Plums in Brandy,wild foods cookery" in 1969. Sylvia's place, it turns out, had been only minutes away from our place in Honeywood.  Ann, as a young girl, had spent a week with Sylvia, learning about food that could be forged from the woods, and so it seemed fitting, that it was Ann, who was helping with the digging of the wild leeks this year.   My good friends and neighbors, Alan and Ester, joined us for the ritual spring dinner of Wild Leek and Morel Risotto, and also remembered Sylvia and had stories to share.  

In addition to the wild leeks and morels, we also had the first local asparagus from Griffins Market Garden, and the first rhubarb from my garden.  I think we are finally putting winter behind us.  

Ann cleaning the wild leeks

serves 6


15 to 20 wild leeks, depending on size
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup  fresh morels
1 1/2 cups of arborio rice
2 cups of dry white wine
7 cups of vegetable broth
sprig of thyme
4 tablespoons of butter
1/3 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Clean leeks well under cold running water.  Cut the leaves just above the bulb and save the leaves for later. Cut bulbs in half, lengthwise and sauté the bulbs in the 
olive oil, and add the rice and stir, until the rice becomes translucent. Add 1/2  of the wine and stir over medium heat until almost all the wine is absorbed.  Add the other half of the wine and repeat.  Add thyme and then add the broth 1 cup at a time, stirring until  almost all is absorbed and repeat until rice is done. It should be creamy but still al dente.  In the mean time, clean the morels and cut into large bite size pieces and coarsely chop the greens from the leeks.  Sauté the mushrooms in half the butter, add the greens at the last minute and stir both into the risotto.  Remove from heat. Cut the remaining butter into chunks and quickly stir into rice mixture.  Stir in cheese and add salt and pepper to taste.