Foraging

The Myth of the Poison Pea

The Lathyrus clan, which most of us know as wild peas, get a bad rap. But I am here to tell you that wild peas are indeed edible, contrary to what you may have heard. Here's the science behind why.

Berries and Fruits

Foraging for Gooseberries

Ah, the gooseberry, an unloved berry if there ever was one -- especially here in North America. We have more than 100 varieties here, yet few people, even foragers, both with them. Pity. Here's what you need to know to gather ye gooseberry in style.

Recipe

Carrot Consomme with Gnocchi

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.

Berries and Fruits

Chinese Plum Sauce with Wild Plums

A Chinese style plum sauce made with wild plums. This stuff kicks the crap out of store-bought, and is even better on Peking Duck than the more common hoisin sauce. But hell, this stuff is so good it'd be awesome on an old tire.

Salmon and Trout

Saffron Sauce with Fish

Every spring I create a dish that celebrates spring's colors, which for me are green and gold. Here is this year's edition, a trout dish that is as simple as it is pretty.

Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi

Ramp Pasta with Morels

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.

Fish

Afterglow on Pyramid Lake

Live long enough and you will start forgetting about all those fish you've caught over the years. It takes a rare combination of time, place and fish to vault one from that nameless school and into your memory. It all came together recently for me in Nevada with a monster trout.

Venison

‘Food Plot’ Venison Stew

There is a cook's maxim that goes something like, "if it grows together it goes together." Well, this venison stew puts that into practice. Almost everything in this stew can be found in commercial deer "food plot" seed mixes. Shoot the deer, and serve it with the field you shot it in.

Foraging

Rapini with Orecchiette and Garlic

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.

Venison

Chimichurri with Venison

Chimichurri is one of the best sauces for warm weather: It's an herby, garlicky, tangy sauce usually served with beef. Here I am using wild mountain pennyroyal and serving the chimichurri over venison.

Foraging

Elderflower Fritters

Elderflower fritters are wonderful, but most recipes for them have a serious flaw: They simply dip the flower heads in batter, leaving the toxic stems attached. How to fix that problem? Make a beignet instead.

Recipe

Elderflower Cordial

Elderflowers have arrived in NorCal, and the first thing I make with them each year is elderflower cordial. I use this sweet-smelling syrup as a base for cocktails and soft drinks.