Fish
No matter if you are foraging, fishing or hunting, everyone wants a bonanza. Well, I had a day like that last week clamming with fellow forager Kirk Lombard. And when it was over, there was really only one dish I could make: Classic pasta with white clam sauce.
Recipe
Cattail pollen is one of the great zephyrs of the natural world: One day it's here, the next, dried up and blown to the four winds. I finally caught it at the right moment this year, and finally got to make a dish I've been wanting to make for years: Cattail pollen pasta.
Charcuterie
Lots of people made duck or goose "prosciutto" with the breast. But the real magic is in this Northern Italian ham made with the goose's leg and thigh. Unlike the breast, this can hang for the better part of a year. Let it age that long and it tastes like eating silk.
Recipe
Don't be fooled by the fancy name. These are your standard ricotta-spinach gnocchi, only made with wild cow parsnip greens, and the carrot consomme is fiendishly easy to make. A knockout dish that's pure simplicity.
Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi
This might be the prettiest - and best-tasting - dish I've made this spring. You can really taste the ramps in the pasta, and the morels, cooked simply with ramps, butter and a little stock, compliment the pasta like sunshine on a pretty girl's eyes.
Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi
Beyond the fact that stinging nettles are a superfood, they are just so damn pretty! Blanched, they lose their sting, and take on a lurid emerald. That green makes an exciting pasta -- and a great ravioli filling. Yep, this is a double dose of nettle goodness.
Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi
If there is one episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" that sticks with me, it is his trip to Venice. In that episode he has risotto di go, an ethereal dish that hinges on a magical fish broth. I've remade this risotto here with striped bass. It will transport you.
Featured
Wild onions, ramps especially, make a great pesto. This is my version, which has a little oregano in it as well as almonds and pecorino cheese.
Foraging
On of my all-time favorite vegetables is broccoli rabe, also known as rapini or broccoli raab. Not actually a broccoli, it's actually the unopened flower buds of a kind of mustard. And guess what? Wild mustard works every bit as well as garden variety.
Italian
This is about as classic Italian as it gets... except I'm using bear shanks instead of veal. Osso buco is one of the best uses of any large shank, be it elk, moose, a big deer or pig, and yes, black bear. Call it "orso buco."
Recipe
Cappelletti, a variant on the well-known tortellini of Bologna, are normally served in a clear broth. My cappelletti are vegetarian, filled with ricotta and spices, but you could use meat, too. The soup is a rich, clear duck broth; almost a consomme. Simple yet, elegant.
Italian
Sometimes you want a gentle hand when cooking rabbit. It is a delicate meat that can easily be overwhelmed by strong flavors. This Italian inspired recipe keeps things mellow to let the rabbit flavor shine. How? Don't brown the meat first.
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