Go Wild with Greens
Stinging nettles may have the ring of something you'd best give a wide berth, but like a lot of offbeat greens, they can be tasty and nutritious -- and can do much to perk up a humdrum diet.
If anyone can root out the latest in provocative produce, it's Kerry Clasby, whose job title is "intuitive forager." Stinging nettles are among the alternative greens available at the farmers market she runs in cooperation with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich's B&B Hospitality Group. The market is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays at 7485 Dean Martin Drive, Suite 106.
The nettles, which Batali frequently features in his menus, have a sort of musky flavor, Clasby said, and are high in iron and contain lots of vitamins and calcium. To make a nettle tea or tonic, dry them, then pour hot water over them.
"Add some mint or ginger and you have a great herbal tonic or a cold summer drink," she said. "They say it's a great tonic for arthritis."
Carlos Guia, executive chef at SW Steakhouse at Wynn Las Vegas, also features the nettles on his menus. Guia, who characterizes the flavor as "green and woodsy," said he became familiar with them when he was training in Europe. They live up to their name, he noted, and must be blanched in boiling water to soften the prickly surface. (He tells a story about an inexperienced cook who refused to wear gloves and ended up with a nasty rash.) He uses stinging nettles in a hot or cold soup with a cream base, or sauteed with olive oil, roasted garlic and tomatoes, served with grilled fish.
But if you're a little daunted by the nettles, there are plenty of other offbeat greens available in local markets. Among those that Clasby offers are tetragonia spinach (or New Zealand water spinach), orach, miner's lettuce, chickweed, purslane, lamb's ears, lamb's quarters and baby Savoy spinach.
Tetragonia spinach, she said, has a briny flavor. Orach is very briny, with a crunchy texture. Miner's lettuce and chickweed both have an earthy flavor, she said, while purslane has a gel-like texture, lamb's ears (or mache) has a mild flavor, lamb's quarters are commonly used in Hispanic foods -- "they're great in burritos" -- and baby Savoy spinach is briny and tastes great with mustard.
Miner's lettuce got its name from its high levels of vitamin C, which saved a lot of miners from scurvy, Clasby explained. It's also high in omega-3 fatty acids, she said.
Ramps are among the alternative greens available at local supermarkets, including Whole Foods Markets.
"They're kind of like a baby leek," said Jeff Biddle, the company's regional produce coordinator, who's based at the Whole Foods Market at 6689 Las Vegas Blvd. South.
"I usually just cut them up and put them in a pasta dish. Cook them lightly." He described the flavor as sort of garlic/onion.
Guia uses ramps as well. He might make a charred-ramp chimichurri and use it to top butter-poached fish.
"It's just a great way to enhance a spring dish," Guia said.
Kim Canteenwalla, executive chef at Society Cafe at Encore, likes to use pea tendrils and pea shoots at this time of year. At lunchtime, he'll prepare citrus-marinated chicken thighs with a pink peppercorn-and-citrus vinaigrette with pea tendrils, artichokes and corn, and top it with pea shoots. Or he'll use the shoots and the tendrils in a primaveralike pasta dish.
Jet Tila, executive chef of Wazuzu at Encore, likes to use Asian microgreens.
"A lot of these greens, when they're fully mature, are a little too powerful on the palate," he said. "You get a little taste of what they're supposed to be, but they're still fun."
Besides, he said, "everyone loves the cute factor."
It's getting a little late in the season for fiddlehead ferns, but if you stop by Whole Foods, you just might get lucky.
"You never know when you're going to stumble across them," Biddle said. "I tell people to use them the same way they use asparagus."
Guia also uses fiddleheads when in season. He pickles them, and sometimes uses them in a salad with shrimp and arugula and a red-pepper remoulade.
At Whole Foods, Biddle said the company has had an increased focus on healthful eating, and has marked produce items with ANDI scores. That stands for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index and was designed by physician/author Joel Fuhrman. The ANDI scores for chard and watercress are 1,000 -- the maximum -- and they both can be tossed into salads.
In the Sierra Nevada you could forage for most of these things; in the deserts of Southern Nevada, you'll pretty much have to stick to the markets.
Just be careful with those nettles.
LEG OF LAMB STUFFED WITH GREENS AND FETA
1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for brushing
1 fennel bulb, trimmed (fronds and tender stalks reserved), halved and thinly sliced
1½ cups thinly sliced scallions (white and most of the green parts)
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic, plus 2 garlic cloves, quartered
1½ cups coarsely chopped mixed greens (such as baby spinach, tender Swiss chard leaves, miner's lettuce, pea shoots, orache, green amaranth, outer leaves of escarole or romaine lettuce, and/or beet greens)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, preferably freshly ground or crushed in a mortar
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh mint
1 3½- to 4-pound half-leg of lamb (shank half), some fat left on, shank bone left in, hip end of bone removed (have the butcher do this, or see note)
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
½ cup dry white wine, plus more if needed
½ cup chopped fennel fronds plus tender stalks, or fresh dill
In a large skillet, heat the oil and saute the fennel bulb over medium heat until just tender, about three minutes. Add the scallions and chopped garlic and saute for two minutes more. Add the greens and saute, stirring, until wilted. Remove from the heat and stir in the fennel seeds and pepper, to taste. Let cool and then add the mint.
Make eight small slits randomly in the lamb and insert the garlic quarters.
Transfer half of the greens mixture to a small bowl. Add the cheese to the greens remaining in the skillet. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding salt if necessary (feta is usually quite salty). Stuff the lamb with the cheese mixture, squeezing it to extract the excess juices; add some of the remaining greens if needed; the lamb should be well stuffed. Close the opening with toothpicks. Rub the lamb all over with the remaining greens. Cover and refrigerate for at least three hours, or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Scrape the greens off the surface of the lamb and reserve. Brush the lamb with oil and sprinkle with the oregano and salt and pepper, to taste. Place the lamb in a roasting pan that just holds it comfortably, preferably clay or Pyrex. Roast for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring the wine to a boil and simmer for 1 minute. Add the reserved greens.
Pour the greens mixture over the lamb and roast for five minutes more. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast the lamb, basting frequently with the pan juices, adding a little more wine to the pan if necessary, for about 30 minutes longer, or until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 135 degrees for medium. Remove the lamb from the oven, sprinkle with the chopped fennel or dill, cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 15 minutes.
Carve the lamb and serve, passing the pan juices in a bowl or sauceboat at the table. Serves 4 to 6.
Note: Alternatively, you can use a butterflied leg of lamb. Spread the stuffing over the lamb, roll it up and tie it. Marinate and roast as directed.
-- Recipe from Bon Appetit magazine
STEAMED FIDDLEHEADS WITH HORSERADISH-SCALLION SAUCE
1 pound fiddleheads, cleaned (see note)
½ cup plain yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon drained bottled horseradish, or to taste
3 tablespoons finely chopped scallion greens
Salt and pepper, to taste
In a steamer set over boiling water, steam the fiddleheads for 5 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender. Transfer them with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking and transfer them to paper towels to drain.
In a small bowl whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, horseradish, scallion and salt and pepper, to taste, whisking until the sauce is smooth. Serve the fiddleheads topped with the sauce.
Note: To clean fresh-picked fiddleheads, snap off the crisp, bright green tops, leaving about 2 inches of stem attached. Rub off the dry brown casings by hand or put the fiddleheads in a wire salad basket and whirl the basket outdoors to remove the casings. Let the fiddleheads soak in a sink half-full of cold water, changing the water several times to remove any grit or casing particles, and drain them. The fiddleheads keep, covered and chilled, for 1 week. Serves 4 to 8.
-- Recipe from Gourmet magazine
GOAT-CHEESE SCALLOPED POTATOES WITH CHIVE BLOSSOMS
3 pounds yellow-fleshed boiling potatoes
2 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces soft mild goat cheese
1½ to 2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Garnish: fresh chives (preferably flowering) snipped with scissors
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Peel potatoes and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices with a manual slicer or sharp thin knife. Keep slices in a large bowl of cold water while making sauce.
Cook shallots in butter in a small skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Transfer to a blender and purée with milk, cream, cheese, salt, to taste, and pepper.
Drain potatoes in a large colander and pat dry. Arrange in a buttered 3-quart shallow baking dish in three layers, pouring some of sauce over each layer (use all of sauce) and putting best potato slices on top layer. Bake, covered with foil, in lower third of oven. Remove foil after 45 minutes and continue to bake until potatoes are tender, 30 to 45 minutes more. If desired, briefly broil potatoes under preheated broiler until top is golden.
Garnish with snipped chives and blossoms. Serves 8.
-- Recipe from Gourmet magazine
Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@review journal.com or 702-383-0474.
