It’s been a swing of a Spring so far – starting in classic fashion of snow but then a week later 70 degrees F! Many weeks of sunny and warm days, with some typical April and May rainy days in there, fooled us into thinking we were well on our way to Summer when last minute we get a crazy frost! Fortunately the apple trees were strong and it seems they did not lose their blossoms (that could have been catastrophic for many, and certainly plan changing for us as we are dreaming of a Harvest Party for cider this year). But the chill put us in the mood for a surprise Spring stew.

Dinners have been mostly easy meals during the work week (which for many of you is likely the weekend) and a little more flair on days off. What does easy look like for us? We have a couple of staples – Nachos Grande and Pizza always make the rounds, pasta or a stir fry other nights, sometimes we’ll whip up a Shakshuka or just bake wings and oven fries.

This past week though we asked D to pull out a couple of lamb steaks and we figured we’d slice up some potatoes and cook down some greens (I like food directionals – up, down, over…ha!). I can’t stress enough how important clean meat is and knowing where your meat comes from is great – this lamb was graciously bartered for bread from the lovely folks at Morton Brook Ranch in Pittston. But when we got home she had pulled lamb shanks – what to do, what to do, I thought ‘there’s no way shanks will cook anytime soon’. So, I consulted my meat expert, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his big River Cottage Meat Book (so handy! as is the Veg/More Veg, the Family Cookbook, and River Cottage Every Day). His recipe Citrus-Braised Lamb Shanks set me on the right path, though I didn’t make this, I now had the fundamentals to work with, thanks Hugh! It wasn’t fast but it was easy and we had a little time (takes 2.5 hours to cook, but really only 15 minutes to prepare).

We had leftovers and bulked it back up by removing any leftover shanks and picking the meat off and into the pot, and just throwing in a bunch of chopped Rainbow Swiss Chard and a few more olives, can add a little more broth if needed.

Spring Lamb & Olive Stew
Serves 4, very comfortably

4 Lamb shanks, salt and peppered lightly
4-6 small to med Carrots, cut into 2″ chunks
4-6 med to large Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut into 2″ chunks
2 small to med Onion, quartered (or 2 med leeks, chopped large)
1 med to large celery stalk, cut into 2″ chunks
a few sprigs of Thyme
a couple of Bay Leaves
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 28oz (Large) can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (or a couple of whole fresh or from the freezer, or canned whole, or a plethora of cherry, etc – whatever you have that equals about 2 cups of tomatoes)
1-2 Tbsp Tomato Paste (whoever invented tomato paste in a squeeze tube is my hero)
2 cups of Beef Broth (or 1 cup of Broth, 1 cup of Wine – red or white, your choice)
1 Quart (about 2 cups) of Fresh Mushrooms (we had a mix of chestnut and oyster), cut into 2″ chunks, if necessary (if using button or cremini, just halve or quarter if large)
5-6oz mixed Greek Olives (pitted or unpitted, up to you, ours are generally unpitted – we just remove the pits as we eat)
Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Handful of Fresh Parsley, chopped coarsely
Crusty Sourdough Bread (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a heavy-bottom oven safe pan (with a lid), heat the Olive Oil on the stovetop on Medium-Medium High. Brown Shanks on all sides, when turning for the last time, throw in Carrots and Onions and let brown with Lamb for a few minutes. Add Celery, Garlic, Herbs, Potatoes, and cook another minute or two stirring everyone together.

Add Tomatoes and Tomato Paste, Broth and/or Wine, and bring to a Simmer.

Stir in Mushrooms and Olives, put the lid on and put in the oven.

Turn down the oven to 250 degrees F, and cook for 2.5 hours or until meat is tender on the bone.

Taste for Seasoning and add chopped Parsley for garnish (and overlooked nutrition-Parsley is a wonderfood!). Serve with crusty bread!

How can you go wrong with pesto? It is one of my favorite things to make because I can make it with such a variety of things. Any kind of green, any kind of seed or nut, any kind of oil, you can add cheese or don’t add cheese, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon and then use it on all kinds of stuff! Pizza, pasta, bread (alright, I might be a little wheat-based), roasted veg of almost any kind, rice, fish, a spoon (why not – it has all the stuffs, sounds like a spicy snack to me!).

And right now, the world is proliferating with free vegetation – dandelion greens, violet leaves, bee balm and daisy shoots, and ramps! (if you are even more industrious than me, I’m sure you could find plenty of clover, plantain, cleavers, young evening primrose leaves to make a batch as well, perhaps you have other favorites?). Last week we layered our mushroom pizza (from Wild Fruitings in Augusta – soon to be in our shop!) with young dandelion greens and I know I’ll be putting together a fresh new batch of Foraged Kimchi for all your detox needs.

Though our batch of ramps (which we seeded from Forager’s Harvest of Sam & Melissa Thayer) is looking good, we still want to give them one more year of spread and growth before we harvest any leaves (maybe a few bulbs). And lucky for us, one of our lovely customers brought in a generous collection of large ramp leaves – oh, they smelled so good (thank you so so much!). We promptly took them home and turned them into Ramp Pesto. I had pumpkin seeds, parmesan, and garlic olive oil on hand so in they went. We had it with pasta and a sexy tuna steak. Our friend Kelby turns his into his silvopastured pork sausage so tonite we might have a little more pesto with his Wild Ramp Sausage (find him at Olde Haven Farm in Chelsea – go check out the farm store, it’s awesome).

Though my basic recipe is the same for all pesto: toasted nuts or seeds of your choice (I’ve used pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, pine nuts – of course, pistachio, hazelnuts, I don’t see why you couldn’t use walnut though we don’t eat them here because they irritate J’s mouth though I might shy away from pecan or macadamia as they are very sweet), handful of green things (you could also use lacinato or baby kale, spinach, basil – classic, arugula – peppery!) (and by mid-Summer amaranth leaves, chickweed, garlic mustard, nettles – wear gloves!), garlic if not using garlic greens/scapes/ramps, etc, oil of choice – avocado or olive oil might be the best options, lemon juice, sea salt, and a dry cheese of choice (optional) though I generally use parmesan (grated or shredded fresh). It is fresh and fine without cheese, but I’m a hedonist, cheese it is.

My ratios are eye-balled. For a small batch I probably start with 2 cups of loosely chopped greens. I like probably twice as many greens to seed/nuts, enough oil to keep it a bit loose, just enough lemon juice and salt to flavor and brighten it, and probably the same amount of cheese to seed/nuts but you may find that you can adjust all of this to your tastes. I also recommend toasting the seed/nuts first and pureeing in small food processor (but pulse, you don’t need nut butter!), then adding cut up leaves of choice – add a little oil to loosen and make puree easier until all leaves are broken down, adding a little lemon and more oil if you need more liquid, add cheese if using – then taste, then add more salt or lemon or olive oil if needed.

If tossing onto pasta, remember to keep a little of the pasta water in the pan to loosen the pesto and make it a little ‘saucy’. I probably use a 1/4 cup on a pound of pasta (yes, hedonist) and mix it thoroughly but gently. Refrigerate the rest and use within a week or so.

Happy Pesto-ing!