4.18.17 Wisconsin Grown | Part 1

Spring, warmer weather, and all manner of green growing things is finally upon us. But besides providing us with a much needed boost of vitamin D, the long-awaited onset of spring also marks the start of the growing season, the opening of the outdoor farmer’s markets, the beginning garden bed prep, and of course, time to resume our Wisconsin Grown series.

I started writing my Wisconsin Grown posts last year as a way to document what I’m cooking with all of the lovely locally grown produce I’m getting my hands on during Wisconsin’s glorious growing season; be it finds from the local farmer’s markets, produce I’m pulling from my backyard garden plot, or the loads of lovely veggies and fruits we bring in each week from our CSA. With one year of writing these posts under my belt, I’ve found that having a solid plan written out for each week's haul is the best possibly way to cope with the sometimes daunting feeling that can accompany all of this locally grown goodness. Because, let’s face it, letting any of these beauties go to waste is a big fear of mine, and writing these posts each week has been an important aid in keeping my veggie waste to a minimum. And so this year, we’re going to do it all again. I can’t wait.

Throughout the season, I’ll be posting about what local fruits and veggies I’ve currently got on hand, and what I’ll be making with them. Hopefully, it will help inspire you to be creative with your locally grown bounty as well!

This past weekend marked the first day of the outdoor farmers’ market, and thanks to our perpetually early-riser of a son, we managed to get out to the market bright and early. I’m always wildly excited for the first opportunity to get to the outdoor farmers’ market each spring, and this weekend was no exception. And as usual, despite the fact that the growing season has only just barely begun, we still managed to come home with lots of goodies to cook with this week. Here’s what we’ll be cooking:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This time of year, I’m all about frost sweetened Spinach. You can pretty much bet I’ll be buying bags of the stuff as long as it’s in season, and making it into things like Spinach with Everything.

Pea Shoots are another springy green I love; unlike a lot of the sharp, bitter greens available this time of year, they’re subtle and tender, and absolutely lovely. Especially when simply stir fried with plenty of garlic.

You can almost always count on plenty of Ramps at the first outdoor farmer’s market of the season, and since these early season alliums aren’t around for long, I like to buy a bunch or two whenever I come across them. Their mild oniony, garlicky flavor lends itself well to all manner of things, but this week I’m going to pair them with bacon, parmesan, and silky eggs in Pasta Carbonara (chop up 1-2 bunches of ramps, sub the white/purple bottoms for the shallot in this recipe, and the green tops for the kale).

When Bowen Appetit posted a recipe for this Roasted Wild Mushroom Pizza last week, I knew I needed to make it immediately. Well, almost immediately. First, I needed to pick up loads of Cremini and Oyster Mushrooms at the farmer’s market, which soon made their way into this glorious pie. It was so good.

One of the first herbs to appear this early in the season, I love adding Chives to things like salads and soft scrambled eggs. And if we’re feeling really fancy, we might just whip up a batch of Food52’s Black Pepper Popovers with Chives and Parmesan to serve alongside.