What to do with spring veggies like rhubarb, ramps, lovage, and hop shoots

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      Veggie lovers rejoice, for spring is here!

      “It’s one of the most exciting times to be a chef,” says Jason Vallee, chef de cuisine at Catch 122 restaurant, in a phone interview. “This is when you have a lot more product to utilize and can be more creative than in the winter.” (Not that you haven’t enjoyed all those beets and turnips.)

      The Straight asked Vallee and other local chefs how they cook with their favourite spring vegetables to give you some inspiration in your own kitchen. Some of the veggies may be new to you and require a trip to your local farmers market.

      Vallee has two general tips for spring veggies: keep it simple, and aim for lighter, fresher flavours.

      “You don’t really want to do too much to these products, since they’re really nice natural, as they are,” he explains. He cooks hop shoots much as he prepares asparagus. (Hop shoots are the early growth from the hop plant, whose flowers, or hops, are used primarily to make beer.) He grills them until they’re slightly charred and serves them with a protein, such as pork, or on top of risotto.

      He recommends treating lovage like a more intensely flavoured celery. For example, he’ll use it as a diced aromatic in broth for cooking mussels. He sometimes purées it as a side with halibut or adds its leaves to a salad mix.

      Vallee says nothing beats munching on a stick of raw rhubarb dipped in sugar. Additionally, he recommends thinly shaving the stalks and tossing them in a salad—like one with pea shoots, peas, and burrata—for a bit of acidity. And of course, friends and family will always welcome rhubarb jam and rhubarb pie. (Don’t forget the ice cream, Vallee says.)

      Vallee says fresh peas can add some vibrant green to your pastas. One of his go-to dishes consists of peas, gnocchi (or your choice of pasta), chunks of smoked ham hock, olive oil, and fresh ricotta. He also makes a refreshing chilled pea soup, blending the cooked vegetable with cream and veggie stock, and garnishing it with crème fraîche and homemade brioche croutons.

      Faizal Kassam, executive chef of Uva and Cibo Trattoria, makes a blended hot pea soup with chicken stock, leek, onion, celery, garlic, and milk. He also sometimes purées peas as an accompaniment to fish. Other times, he uses them raw in a salad with asparagus, fava beans, sliced radishes, and a simple vinaigrette.

      While he usually warns against overcooking peas, he sometimes adds them to a soffritto (onion, celery, and carrots gently sautéed in olive oil) along with chicken stock and cooks them slowly for about half an hour, resulting in a sweet, umami-rich side dish.

      Ramps, which are similar to green onions, are Kassam’s ultimate spring veg. He blanches the leaves and purées them with a bit of olive oil, and then spreads the mixture on toast with burrata or serves it alongside seafood or meat. He frequently grills them whole, chops them up, and adds olive oil and red wine vinegar to make a topping for fish, chicken, or steak. Other ramp ideas include pickling or making a compound butter that he uses on steak or for finishing off risotto or pasta dishes.

      Kassam also takes advantage of the abundance of stinging nettles by making an antioxidant-rich tea with boiling water, lemon, and honey.

      Dan Cheung, founder and CEO of Nourish Vancouver—a restaurant in the Chopra Yoga Centre at 451 Granville Street—recommends adding thinly sliced radishes to salads for textural contrast, such as those in Nourish’s salad with soba noodles, sesame-soy dressing, and your choice of veggies (such as carrots). He also advocates a light touch with spring vegetables. “It’s a shame to do anything to them. They’ve been grown with a lot of care, and we should appreciate that,” he says during an in-person chat.

      Cheung urges you to make use of all the fresh local herbs that are available during the spring, such as mint, which he says goes well with feta, mixed greens, roasted almonds, and a vinaigrette dressing. He likes cilantro for topping steamed fish, along with chopped green onion, finely sliced ginger, and hot oil, as well as in Southeast Asian–inspired salads, such as one that includes cabbage, quinoa, roasted chickpeas, and carrots in a ginger, almond butter, and lime dressing.

      With bok choy in season, Cheung stir-fries the leafy green in a wok with garlic, sesame oil, and tamari. He tops the veg with roasted sesame seeds and eats it with fish and rice. Sliced raw, it can stand in for cabbage and adds a lovely crunch to salads.

      Cheung, Kassam, and Vallee source their produce from a number of local farmers, such as Klipper’s Organic Acres, Cropthorne Farm, Urban Digs Farm, Hannah Brook Farm, and North Arm Farm. Look out for some of these producers at your local farmers market and ask them for more great ideas on how to make the most of what’s in season.

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