Spring musings

Wild foods right now, plus crowd-pleasing recipes for Mother's Day

Welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage! I hope you’re feeling wonderful as warmer days grace us. We are in the full-on magic of spring. The photo above was taken two weeks ago, when my serviceberry tree was in full bloom, making the emergent bees very happy. This moment has passed, but only to make way for a multitude of new blooms and bounty. It is a very exciting time at Catbird Cottage, a time of promise!

Bloodroot, in the shade garden at the house

Reliable bleeding hearts and epimedium, bringing immediate joy

With warmer days a catalyst, there is a profusion of growth everywhere. This means that foraging season is well underway! Each day’s temperature and conditions shape what can be found: whether hunting mushrooms of the moment, tender, nutrient-dense shoots, or scouting bramble patches for dazzling berries come summer. It is without question foraging season, and the truth is, you never know exactly what you’ll find.

On days where a full-on foraging adventure is not feasible but I want to connect to nature, it’s a gift to be able to walk out my back door and forage on my landscape. In addition to the things that just pop up, I’ve installed numerous wild - and cultivated - perennials for this exact reason. Every year, my original stinging nettles patch expands, and last year, I created a secondary colony up the hill, amongst my ramps patch. 

It’s time to harvest the stinging nettles. I trim past the first set of leaves, down the stem, and cut just above the next set of leaves - encouraging more growth in the plant, while also giving me more material to work with in the kitchen. Handle them with protective gloves so as not to suffer from the burning histamines their tiny hairs contain. Nettles are a real health tonic, and resemble extra-nutrient-rich spinach in culinary preparations. Last year, I made nettle malfatti for a Catbird dinner (translates to “badly made” but don’t be confused - they are SO good - similar to this version from Giulia Scarpaleggia). The fluffy, savory pillows absolutely melted in the mouth. This batch is destined for another nettle pasta - maybe a riff on tagliatelle. I am freezing the blanched leaves for later though, for when I have time to properly commit.

Speaking of histamines and hairs, the spongy (aka Gypsy) moth infestation is underway in our region again. This is year three of a horrible infestation and I’m overjoyed it’s likely the final round of forest defoliating that comes with this hungry population. They do such damage - read more about them here.

Spongy moth caterpillars, chewing the new leaves on one of my oaks

Anyway, the tiny caterpillars have hatched, and in the past week or so, they have been crawling across all surfaces: their hardwiring makes them climb (up to their tree hosts, where they will munch endlessly). We went on a killing spree to diminish their numbers - at least locally - so we wouldn’t experience as much direct damage in my gardens. However, this has meant I fell victim to the rash these tiny caterpillars produce. I wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone: I’ve had a rash up the length of my inner arms, my chest, and upper back for over a week, and let me tell you *it is not fun*.

Back to the garden. Spruce tip season is here too, an earlier arrival than last year. I harvest the soft, frondy tips from our enormous Norway spruce. They taste orange-citrusy, with a small resinous kick at the end. I’ve begun an initial batch of spruce tip syrup the slow way, from Forager chef. Make the quick version syrup, page 103 in my book. This aromatic syrup goes towards cocktails across the seasons at our supper club popups and beyond…! I always freeze a couple batches of fresh spruce tips to use in stocks, as well as for cures for salmon, and for a batch of spruce tip salt. 

The kitchen garden is coming along. All manner of seedlings are ready to take their permanent homes, though in our region, not to be planted out until after Mother’s Day. I am eager to see what this year’s garden will be!

Sorting seeds and the garden map

This year’s garlic patch, already huge

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, here are a few easy and crowd-pleasing dishes that will wow your moms.

Miso butter salmon + custardy scrambled eggs

Burnt Basque cheesecake

Wild salmon + cucumber-orange salsa

Jammy eggs with creamy feta sauce

If you’re looking for something extra special to give to mom, my book makes a perfect gift for Mother’s Day! It is an award-winning, beautiful meandering through the seasons, bursting with delicious recipes. It’s currently available for a steal over at Amazon. If you prefer to support your local bookseller, check out Powell’s, Kitchen Arts & Letters, or Barnes&Noble.

Happy Mother’s Day! xo

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Umeboshi sauce noodle bowl

Put it on everything

Hello lovely readers! Welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage. Spring is springing all over the place. It is dazzling to behold, particularly here on our landscape: numerous billowy forsythias, reliable daffodils, nodding hellebores, our serviceberry, epimedium (aka spaceship flowers) and so much more. Which brings me to an important note for all you wild food fans: Now is the perfect time to make this field garlic Caesar salad. The link brings you to in-depth coverage about how to properly identify this common wild ingredient. Harvest away and eat deliciously!

Today’s recipe features another wonderfully punchy dressing: enter lush, zippy umeboshi sauce.

With so many tender, wild foods fresh-on-the scene, we have launched our debut supper club, happening tomorrow! A few days ago I went out foraging stinging nettles for the menu, looking so fine and tender at this moment, and bringing into focus once again how lucky I am to live like this. Dinner will be a rollicking 4-course feast, featuring - amongst other things - the sought-after handmade cecamariti from my book (p. 157 ). This version will be tossed through plenty of brown butter and served with ramps, nettles, and crispy sunflower seeds. The dessert I’ve developed - which I am bursting to share - will be in the next paid newsletter. Stay tuned!

Stinging nettle tips, along a bike ride

If you’d like to join us for our next popup supper club on May 25th, send a reply or email me and we’ll reserve your spot. Attendees from previous dinners get first dibs to upcoming feasts - so tickets usually go quick - but I’m always interested to bring new people into the mix and create a richer experience. These events are always intimate (and very lively), and they bring a piece of humanity to all of us.

A few years ago I was searching for a new way to commemorate the Lunar New Year and landed on the Prosperity Salad. I can’t tell you how much fun it was to gather some of my favorite colorful ingredients and channel pantry staples into new, exciting roles. The idea began with “plum sauce”. But because I generally prefer savory, I decided to make a similar - but different - version, using umeboshi preserved plums as my starting point. Once assembled and the punchy sauce is poured over all, this salad has you enthusiastically toss it with loved ones, to encourage a prosperous year, of course. This is playing with food I fully support.

The original Prosperity salad

Fast forward to today’s recipe. The fervor elicited by the original salad required a follow-back: to reconnect to the sauce and explore new and delicious ways with it. I can attest, it is great on just about anything. The dense, sour and salty plums add depth and texture. There are some predictable elements such as sesame oil and soy sauce, brightly offset by ume vinegar (same plum) and some fresh orange juice. Inky date syrup brings a background-sweetening layer to bring it all together.

The rainbow noodle bowl is as versatile as you want to make it. As long as you have several crunchy ingredients, an allium, and a protein - united by the sauce - your noodle bowl will shine. In this version I’ve used watermelon radish, green beans, carrots, cucumber, shrimp, scallions, chilis, and peanuts, plus a generous handful of basil and cilantro. You could opt to use bean sprouts, broccoli, peppers, snow peas, grilled chicken, and seared mushrooms, or a riff with fried tofu, water chestnuts, radishes, cucumber, cabbage, and asparagus, etc etc - the ideas are endless. Any of these combinations, united by the sauce, will bring a deeply savory, zippy quality to anything it touches.

So fresh, so bright

Umeboshi sauce noodle bowl

sauce
3 umeboshi plums (remove the pits)
3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp date syrup
1 1/2 tsp ume vinegar
3/4 tsp soy sauce

noodle bowl
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/3 medium watermelon radish, cut into matchsticks 
1 Persian cucumber, cut into meaty coins
1 scallion, sliced thinly
12 U-20 shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup cracked peanuts
4 oz vermicelli 
extra virgin olive oil, for sautéing
kosher salt, for seasoning

Blitz all sauce ingredients until uniform in a high-speed blender. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Cook vermicelli in rapidly boiling water for 5 minutes, or according to package instructions. Drain and transfer the noodles to a mixing bowl. Pour most of the sauce onto the noodles, reserving about 1/4 cup. Toss the noodles through the sauce until well coated and set aside.

Drizzle oil in a large cast-iron skillet. Once the pan is hot, arrange half the shrimp in a single layer, season them with kosher salt, and sauté for 2 minutes. Turn the shrimp over and sauté until just opaque at the center. Transfer them to a plate and repeat with remaining shrimp.

Divide the noodles between two shallow bowls. Flank the noodles with little piles of the veggies, herbs, shrimp. Scatter chilis, scallions, and peanuts on top. Drizzle a little more sauce onto the veggies and dig in. This was seriously SO GOOD, I can’t wait to hear if you make it - let me know in the comments!

Beets + bagna cauda

With pistachios + farro

Hello dear readers! Welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage. I’ve got a simple-but-glorious dish to add to your Easter menu this weekend. This is one of those recipes that you can accomplish in the background as you attend to all the final prep items, and it will bring wow to the table when everything is ready. It’s also great because every element can be made in advance (and also eaten warm or at room temp). Lastly - and most importantly - this dish is deeply delicious.

Enter bagna cauda, a garlic-anchovy sauce hailing from the Piedmont region in Italy. It derives its oomph from simple ingredients: garlic, olive oil, and anchovies, and literally translates to “warm bath”. Bagna cauda is traditionally served in an earthenware bowl and kept warm, set over embers or other heat source. This version attests that residually warm or room temperature is a-okay. Variations can also include the addition of butter or walnuts for further richness. At its foundation, the sauce brings velvety-salty-umami to anything onto which you spoon or dunk it.

I think of bagna cauda as a sibling to garlic confit and anchovy butter, and equally easy to make. Simmer the garlic in water until it is just tender, a step which makes it easier to mash or purée the cloves once they have confit-ed in the olive oil. If the garlic is only cooked in the olive oil it would require a longer duration to render the cloves tender, which also risks them frying. Frying makes them crispy, and therefore less easy to mash or blend.

You may serve the traditional crudités alongside bagna cauda, but here I’ve decided to pair the luscious sauce with steamed beets, toothsome farro, and chopped pistachios. Feel free to roast the beets if that is your preference. I have been steaming them of late - for expediency, mostly - and relishing in their earthy sweetness as such. You may also opt to swap the pistachios for chopped toasted walnuts or almonds - any will be delicious. Chopped parsley or a scatter of bittercress would be a pleasant brightening element if you have them, but not necessary.

Beets + bagna cauda with pistachios + farro
simple, sunny, and damn delicious

farro
1 cup farro
2 cups water
kosher salt
extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

bagna cauda
1 head garlic (about 11 cloves), remove the inner germ if it is green
11 anchovies
1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

beets + assembly
5-7 colorful beets, peeled and cut into hearty wedges
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped

Add the farro and water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover with its lid, turn heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and the grains are chewy-tender. Remove farro from the heat and keep the lid in place. 

In a large saucepan with a steamer basket placed at the bottom, add in the beets and 1 inch of water. Cover and steam on high heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the beets are tender when pierced with a thin sharp knife. Set aside.

Cook the garlic in a small saucepan in simmering water until tender - about 10 minutes. Strain the cloves, wipe the pan dry, and pour in the olive oil. Add the garlic back to the pan, plus the anchovies, and bring to a low boil. Lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Stir after a minute or so to dissolve the anchovies, then simmer the mixture for 10 minutes or until garlic is very tender. Test by pressing a clove with the back of a fork along the side of the pan.

Remove the mixture from the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Using an immersion blender, blend the elements until smooth and uniform. Pour the sauce into an appropriate serving bowl. Once served at the table, the tendency will be for the oil to separate, so offer it with a spoon to stir and reincorporate as people serve themselves.

Add a pinch of salt to the farro and a drizzle of oil, and stir together. Spoon the farro onto a serving platter. Arrange the beets on top and generously spoon the bagna cauda to coat all. Shower with pistachios and enjoy!

After developing this recipe I have some bagna cauda leftover. I’ve been adding it to salad greens, spooning it onto fried eggs, and slathering it on toast. So versatile, so good.

If you’re looking to add another dish - whether for Easter, or just something that feels special - perhaps one of these will make your day just right.

Rhubarb + rye crêpes

Fab mushroom tart

Miso butter + custardy scrambled eggs

Coulibiac

Spice-crusted leg of lamb

Burnt Basque cheesecake

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