Edmonton chefs and cooking instructors welcome the season with fresh spring flavours.
Rhubarb Cordial
“Rhubarb doesn’t freeze well. I prefer to preserve the abundance in the garden in a delicious cordial. Add to soda water, sparkling wine or gin.” -Kaelin Whittaker, Awn Kitchen.
| 4 kg | rhubarb, cut into 5cm lengths |
| 400 ml | water |
| 1.2 kg | granulated sugar |
| juice of 4 lemons |
Place the rhubarb in a saucepan, add the water and slowly bring to the boil, immediately turn down to a simmer. Cover and leave to stew for 30 minutes to 1 hour (until the rhubarb has broken down). Turn off the heat and allow to cool a little bit. Strain the rhubarb through cheesecloth for 6 hours or overnight if possible, don’t be tempted to squeeze or you will end up with a cloudy cordial. Measure the juice and pour into a clean saucepan, for each litre of juice, add 600 g sugar with the lemon juice. Heat, stirring, until the sugar is fully dissolved. Bring to the boil before placing in sterilized bottles or jars. Keeps for about a year in a cool dark place.
Radish Top and Grilled Ramp Chimichurri
“This sauce is a great accompaniment to grilled beef, pork and lamb. Also great with fish and vegetables. I usually get ramps from Mona Foods and radishes at Sunrise or Reclaim at the farmers markets.” -Davina Moraiko, chef de cuisine, RGE RD.
| 2 lg | ramps |
| 1½ c | finely chopped radish tops |
| 2 cloves | minced garlic |
| 1 sm | cayenne pepper, seeded and finely chopped |
| ½ c | red wine vinegar |
| ¾ c | first-pressed canola oil (Highwood Crossing canola oil, find at Mona Foods or Blush Lane Market) |
| 1 t | kosher salt |
On medium heat, grill whole ramps until slightly charred. Let cool.
Combine minced garlic, finely chopped cayenne pepper, red wine vinegar and salt in a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes. Finely chop the grilled ramps and stir into the bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in the radish tops. Whisk in the first pressed canola oil.
Makes 2 cups.
Pickled Alberta Wild Mushrooms
“This is such a quick, easy and bright way to preserve wild mushrooms. Add to a salad, garnish a charcuterie board or serve with a beautiful grilled steak. I put them on a breakfast sandwich this morning and wow is all I can say. If you are not in the business of foraging your own wild mushrooms, you can always check in with one of Alberta’s many mushroom farmers.”-Chef Bri Campbell, Three Vikings
| 250 g | fresh wild mushrooms |
| 3 c | apple cider vinegar |
| 1¼ c | white sugar |
| 1 stick | cinnamon |
| 5 cloves | garlic |
| 3 sprigs | fresh thyme |
| 1 T | kosher salt |
| 1 t | chili flakes |
To begin, weigh out mushrooms. If your mushrooms have woody, tough stems you can remove them. Brush off any dirt with a dry clean kitchen towel. Place in a container that can be sealed airtight, or in a sterilized jar.
Combine the vinegar with the sugar, cinnamon stick, garlic cloves, thyme, salt, and chili flakes in a nonreactive pot. Bring everything to a simmer to make sure all sugar and salt has dissolved. Pour the simmering hot liquid over mushrooms, cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 48 hours. Can be stored in the fridge for a month. Makes 1- 1 L jar or 2- 500 ml jars.
Asparagus and Radish Salad with Spring Onion
“We wait so long in Alberta to taste the new season. This easy and delicious salad celebrates three of the first spring ingredients in such a wonderful way.” -Kaelin Whittaker, Awn Kitchen.
| 250 g | asparagus |
| 75 g | radish |
| 2–3 | spring onions |
| 3 T | olive oil |
| 2 t | cider vinegar |
| ¼ t | dry mustard |
| salt and pepper |
Prepare your vegetables by slicing the asparagus on an angle to create elongated oval slivers, the radish into thin rounds and chop the spring onion finely. Place the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper into a small jam jar, cover and shake well. Toss vegetables well with the dressing. It is best to make this salad an hour or two before serving, leaving it in the fridge to marinate.
Spinach and Rosemary Soup
“The subtle hint of rosemary along with good stock is what makes the recipe.” -Kaelin Whittaker, Awn Kitchen
| 50 g | butter |
| 110 g | onion, chopped |
| 150 g | potatoes, chopped |
| 350 g | spinach (tough stalks removed) |
| 600 ml | homemade chicken or vegetable stock |
| 425 ml | whole milk (use Rock Ridge Jersey milk for richness) |
| 1 T | freshly chopped rosemary |
| salt and pepper to taste |
Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan, add the onion and potato, season with salt and pepper. Sweat for about ten minutes on medium heat. Add the stock, bring to the boil then simmer until the potatoes are fully cooked. Add the spinach and cook for no more than 5 minutes until tender, uncovered. Blitz in a blender, add the milk and rosemary. Taste and correct the seasoning adding more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with softly whipped cream and chive flowers.
Citrus Spaghetti with Ramp and Pecorino Cream Sauce, Peas, Asparagus, Morel Mushrooms and Melted Cherry Tomatoes
“This dish is lovely with grilled shrimps or vanilla and butter poached lobster. You can also substitute the morels with any other mushrooms.” -Chef Doreen Prei, food consultant, CBC Radio Active columnist
Ramp and Pecorino Cream Sauce
| 1 bunch | fresh ramps, washed and cleaned, leaves only (keep the stems to grill on the barbecue another time) |
| salt and freshly-cracked pepper to taste | |
| 500 ml | cream |
| 1 bunch | fresh basil |
| 250 g | Pecorino, finely grated |
Place the cream in a pot and simmer until the cream is reduced by half on medium high heat. Stir once in a while. Add the ramps and basil to the cream and puree with a hand blender or in a blender. Add the Pecorino and season with salt and pepper. Keep hot.
Peas, Asparagus, Morel Mushrooms and Melted Cherry Tomatoes
| 100 g | morel mushrooms, cleaned, cut in rings |
| 250 g | cherry tomatoes, cut in half |
| 8 stalks | asparagus, cut in rings |
| 100 g | peas (fresh or frozen) |
| extra virgin olive oil | |
| salt to taste |
Heat up a big frying pan (big enough so you can add the cream sauce and toss the spaghetti in) on medium high heat. Once hot, add the olive oil and morel mushrooms and season with salt. Sauté for about 3 minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes, season them with salt, stirring constantly. Once they start falling apart, add the cream sauce and bring to a boil. Stir in the asparagus and peas and cook for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and toss in the spaghetti.
Citrus Spaghetti
| 300 g | spaghetti |
| salt | |
| 1 | preserved lemon, pits removed, skin finely diced |
| extra virgin olive oil | |
| zest of 1 lemon |
Bring a pot with water to a boil and season with salt. Add the spaghetti and cook al dente. Drain and add the olive oil, lemon zest, preserved lemon dices and season with salt. Toss with the cream sauce and serve. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Spring Onion and Pea Buckwheat Tart
“This tart can be made with any tender spring vegetables from your garden or the farmers market. It’s very rich and is best topped with an acidic herb salad, my favourite being parsley and pea shoot.” -Ellen Mitchell, Baijiu
Tart shell
| 1 c | buckwheat flour |
| 1 c | all-purpose flour |
| 1 c | (½ stick) butter, cold |
| 1 t | salt |
| 8 T | ice water |
In a large bowl, whisk together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Using a cheese grater, grate the cold butter and add to the bowl with the flour. Prepare a bowl of water with ice cubes and a tablespoon measuring spoon ready beside your mixing bowl so that your ice water is handy when you are ready for it. Use your hands to combine the butter and flour into a sandy mixture. Brush handfuls of the flour mixture in between your hands as if you were wiping them off, so that you are creating elongated pieces of butter that are coated in the flour. Work quickly and don’t worry too much about it being overly uniform, as the shreds of butter will create flakiness in your crust.
Sprinkle 6 tablespoons ice water over the flour and butter mixture and press together with your hands. If it still seems too sandy, add another 2 tablespoons or more if necessary. Work the dough into a flat round disc (this shape will make it easier to roll out later). Wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
Sprinkle your work service lightly with all-purpose flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a large circular sheet. You want it to be about a half centimeter thick. Carefully lay the dough over your tart pan or pie plate and trim the edges.
To blind bake the tart, lay a piece of parchment inside the shell and fill with dry rice or beans. Bake for 15 minutes at 400ºF. Carefully remove the parchment with the beans or rice and bake for another 10 minutes, until lightly golden and crispy looking across the bottom of the pan. This may take longer if you are using a glass pie plate.
Filling
| 3 | eggs |
| 3 | egg yolks |
| 1½ c | heavy cream |
| 2 T | smooth Dijon mustard |
| 1 t | salt |
| 6-8 | spring onions |
| 24 | shelling peas (snap or English) |
While the pastry is resting, slice the spring onions in half lengthwise. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium. Gently sear the cut sides of the spring onions until they are a nice golden colour. Turn them over and season the cut side with salt. Remove from heat and let them cool in the pan so that they soften as they cool. Shell the peas and set aside.
While the crust is blind baking, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, cream, mustard and salt to create a custard. Set aside.
Remove the crust from the oven and arrange the spring onions inside it, alternating end to end so that each piece has some greens and some whites. Follow with the shelled peas and then pour the custard mixture into the crust. Fill to about 90 per cent full as it will puff a little bit. Return the tart to the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 400ºF.
Cool the tart about 10 minutes before slicing, top with parsley and serve with a pea shoot salad if using.
Stinging Nettle Tagliatelle with Tomatoes, Ricotta and Dandelion Greens or Lamb’s Quarters
“I served this pasta as a course at our Open Farm Days Dinner at Prairie Gardens last year. You can substitute arugula or nasturtium leaves for the wild greens, in which case you can stir the leaves into the pasta without pan-searing first. At Get Cooking we dry our nettle stems on sheet pans after we pick the leaves, then use them to make a nettle powder. You will find dandelion greens in early May and lamb’s quarters in early June.” -Kathryn Joel, Get Cooking
Nettle Pasta
| 375 g | 00 flour (or you can use all-purpose flour) |
| 75 g | stinging nettle leaves (use gloves) |
| 3 lg | eggs |
| pinch of salt |
Heat a large pot of water, adding salt. Fill a bowl with water, adding ice to create an ice bath. Blanch the nettles in the boiling salted water, for just 30 seconds to a minute, then drain and refresh in the ice water bath. Drain and dry the nettles well—squeeze them dry in a tea towel. Finely chop the cooked nettles.
Pour the flour onto your work surface and make a wide well in the center. Pour the eggs into the well and beat them together with a fork. Using the fork, start mixing the flour into the eggs from the inside edges of the well. As you start to combine the eggs with flour, add the chopped nettles to the egg. Continue mixing the flour into the eggs and nettles, using the fork then your hands, until you have a firm, kneadable dough that isn’t too dry. Stop incorporating flour when your dough has reached the right consistency. (It is easier to adjust a dough that is too wet, than a dough that is too dry.) Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic (if you push your finger into the dough it should be moist but not sticky, and it should spring back). Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and set aside to rest for at least 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. If you are resting it for more than an hour, you can rest your dough in your fridge. When you’re ready to roll out your dough, cut it in two and flatten one half with a rolling pin or your hands (wrap the other half back up in plastic wrap or it will dry out). Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto your pasta machine rollers and your work surface before you start rolling. If your dough is sticky you may need to use more flour.
Roll the dough through the machine, one setting at a time, starting at the widest setting and working your way down to the third or fourth setting. Now fold the rolled dough. Depending on the length use a book fold, or fold the ends into the center, and then fold again: the goal is for the cut sides to be about as wide as the rollers on your machine so you can roll it through again and achieve a wide, even sheet of pasta. Once your pasta is folded, start rolling it again, starting at the widest setting. When you have rolled it through all of the settings (or the second last depending on your machine—you should be able to see your hand through your pasta), cut it into appropriate lengths and lay it on a floured tea towel to dry for a few minutes. You could also hang it over a broom handle or a pasta rack. When the pasta feels dry but still pliable, you can cut it with your machine, or by hand, into tagliatelle. Leave to dry for 10 minutes or so on a lightly floured tea towel. Now it is ready to cook, or you can form it into bundles and leave it to dry.
Sauce
| 3 T | extra-virgin olive oil |
| 1 sm | onion, finely chopped |
| 2 cloves | garlic, finely chopped |
| 1 sprig | fresh oregano, leaves picked and chopped |
| 1 | fresh red chile, chopped (remove the seeds to reduce the heat) |
| 350 g | chopped heirloom tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes halved lengthways |
| 1 glass | white wine |
| salt and pepper to taste | |
| 150 g | dandelion greens, or lamb’s quarters, washed, stemmed and sliced if needed |
| zest of 1 lemon, and juice, to taste | |
| 100 g | ricotta, drained, if it is high in moisture content |
| salt and pepper to taste | |
| handful | Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped |
| freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, to serve |
Heat the oil in a pan and sweat the onion until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, chili and oregano and stir for just a minute, until fragrant.
Now add the tomatoes, stirring to combine, then stir in the white wine, and a pinch of salt. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, and season to taste. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a sauté pan, and add the dandelion greens, or lamb’s quarters, to wilt for a minute or two. Season with lemon juice and salt.
Cook the pasta in plenty of well-salted boiling water until just al dente. Drain the cooked pasta, retaining some of the cooking water. Add the cooked pasta to the tomato sauce and combine over a gentle heat adding a little of the pasta cooking water as needed. Stir in the wilted greens, then gently stir in the ricotta together with the parsley and lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste. Don’t overmix, the ricotta should still have some texture. Serve with grated Pecorino.
Serves 4 as a main course.