Essential Seasonal Produce for May

Michael Chiarello Blog Feed · 05-23-2008, 07:50 PM

AsparagusFinish your asparagus, or get sent to your room! We only have a couple more weeks of asparagus so get your fill of it, eat it every night. I love it roasted and wrapped in prosciutto. (http://www.napastyle.com/recipe/reci...productId=2670) Fava BeansTry and have friends over to help you peel them, because they take a long time - you have to cook them twice. You have to shuck them, boil them, then take them out of the skin and cook them again. We have a fava pasta that we made the other night served simply with spring onions, spring carrots, spring fennel and a little wild leek all sauteed together very slowly for about 20 minutes. Then we folded into this a farro pasta which is like a spelt - a wild spelt. Then added some Tuscan pecorino cheese and handfuls and handfuls of these fava beans with some crispy sage on them. Incredible. Served with a cool bottle of Chiarello Giana Zin! (http://chiarellovineyards.com/ourwines/index.html) StrawberriesStrawberries are dead on right now. Stay away from the rest of the berries, though - they're not ready yet. Dip them is some crème fraîche. And enjoy with a biscotti on the side. Or try some simple baking with a strawberry/rhubarb/banana crostata (http://www.napastyle.com/recipe/reci...productId=2399). Stone FruitCherries and apricots, followed immediately by nectarines and peaches. In California, apricots have just come on and I think they are one of God's greatest fruits, truly an amazing. I grew up in stone fruit country so we had the greatest in stone fruit. Add to a warm goat cheese salad for a perfect spring supper, paired with a crisp glass of Napa Valley Sauvignon BlancSo yes - asparagus, fava beans, cherries, apricots, spring onions... these are what are hot right now. Fill your market basket and get cooking! Salute Primavera!

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Food Network Fan · 05-23-2008, 11:34 PM

I guess the wild leek over on his side of the map is the ramp here. It's interesting to see how many different names there are for the same thing all across the country.

BerryBaby · 05-24-2008, 10:35 AM

Just bought some donut peaches yesterday. They are one of my favorites!

ibcheft · 05-24-2008, 11:30 AM

Wild leak, wild onion, green onion all look the same to me. Is what you call a ramp like a green onion ?

michael@napastyle.com · 05-24-2008, 06:14 PM

Taking a ramp romp on the east coast is like taking a "leek" on the west. Our wild leeks are slightling different...a little garlicy.

MC

Food Network Fan · 05-25-2008, 12:15 PM

My grandmother used to make us go out and get ramps when I was a kid. We would go camping and spend a whole day looking for ramps.

I would probably like the garlic flavor a bit more. I am a garlic lover.

Food Network Fan · 05-25-2008, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibcheft

Wild leak, wild onion, green onion all look the same to me. Is what you call a ramp like a green onion ?

You can eat the tops like you would a green onion, but most people cook them to eat them. I don't know of many people who eat them raw like many do with the green onion.

As with most things here, in an effort to not make anything too healthy it's common to smother them in bacon grease.

Here's a photo, you can see they have more of a leaf looking top than green onions. More like the leek as Michael says, only not as rigid.

ibcheft · 05-25-2008, 02:34 PM

okay, guess what I ate as a kid from the woods were actually wild onions, and not leeks, nor ramps. Which I cant say as I have ever ran across.

Food Network Fan · 05-25-2008, 02:46 PM

There are a lot of "greens" that are commonly eaten in the mountains of West Virginia, there are "poke greens" or some say "polk" they call them poke weeds too. I believe the true name is poke sallet, but that has been changed by many in speech to poke salad. My family always said "poke" because a poke is a paper bag here. And that's what you would take and fill up when you were out looking for greens. So you have a poke full of greens ... "poke greens".

ibcheft · 05-26-2008, 03:59 PM

You know it is way to cool to have the CHEF pop in here everyonce in awhile and put in his 2 cents worth and and answer our questions. Plus all the feed back we get from each other and most of us in different parts of our great country.