From Chef Christopher Gross, Christopher's Germier Brasserie& Paola's Wine Bar, Phoenix, Ariz.
courtesy Food Arts magazine
2 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
6 artichokes cleaned and quartered (reserve blanching water)
1 lemon, juiced
1 bunch or 36 medium asparagus blanched (use same water used for artichokes)
6 medium leeks (white part only) cleaned, halved and sliced thin
6 heirloom tomatoes or assortment of currant or pear tomatoes
Salt and pepper
Herbs (chives, chervil, tarragon)
1/4 cup butter
Puff-Pastry Vol-Au-Vents
Blanch asparagus until tender, remove. In same water blanch artichokes rubed with lemon. Remove.
For sauce: Reduce 2 cups of blanching liquid to 1/4 cup, whisk in 1/4 cup butter.
Roast vegetables and tomatoes seasoned with salt and papper until hot and tender.
Sauté leeks until tender. Season with salt and papper.
Cut top of the Vol-Au-Vent out and fill with leeks and vegetables.
Add sauce. Garnish with herbs.
Puff-Pastry Vol-Au-Vents
Make six puff pastry disks 6 inches in diameter, with a 1/2 inch strip of puff pastry for border Seal with egg wash. Brush the top wiht remainder of egg wash. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Rocky Mountain Nettle Soup
From chef David Walford, Splendido at the Chateau in Avon, Colo.
courtesy Food Arts magazine
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped leeks
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
5 cups chicken stock
1 potato, peeled, about 10 oz., and cut in eighths
1 cup cream
Salt, white pepper, pinch cayenne
5 tablespoons nettle purée (see below for instructions)
Note: Nettles are an herb that grows wild in the Rocky Mountains in the spring, as well as in other areas. Nettles are richer in iron than spinach and provide vitamins A and C. They also have a delicate green herbal flavor all their own. Picked in early spring when they are young, they don't sting and can be used as a salad green, sautéed like spinach or puréed, as in this case. (The chef says you can substitute watercress if you must.)
Purée: Remove leaves from stems and blanch in boiling water for 1 minute. Cool in ice water, drain and puree in blender. Besides soupes, the purée can be used in cream sauces, beurre blanc or mayonnaise.
In a large saucepan, cook the leeks over medium heat in the butter without coloring till tender, about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook another 3 minutes.
Add the wine and bay leaves, and cook till reduced by three-quarters. Then add the chicken stock and the potato pieces. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Purée the soup with a hand blender or, carefully (because it's hot), in a blender, then strain through a fine strainer and return to the pan. Add the cream, bring back to a simmer and season to taste with salt, white pepper and just a pinch of cayenne.
Add 5 tablespoons of nettle pure to the soup and blend again with the hand blender. Serve right away in warmed soup bowls with tiny croutons and a tablespoon of peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes on top of each soup, with a couple of fresh nettle leaves to garnish.
Splendido's Wood Oven Roasted Colorado Rack of Lamb
From chef David Walford, Splendido at the Chateau in Avon, Colo.
courtesy Food Arts magazine
2-8 bone lamb racks with the long bones
Kosher salt, fresh-ground black pepper
Oil, if browning in skillet
Lamb Marinade (recipe follows)
Trim the fat cap and french the bones.
Marinate for 24 hours. Then drain, and wrap the rib bones in aluminum foil.
Make a lamb sauce from lamb or veal stock, using some of the marinade instead of wine for the sauce.
Season lamb liberally with kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper. Roast in a wood oven fired with oak for about 20 minutes, or brown in a very hot skillet with a little oil and then roast in conventional oven at 450 degrees till medium-rare. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.
We serve the lamb with seasonal vegetables and a carrot-cardamom soufflé.
Lamb Marinade
4 cups bottle pomegranate juice
1 cup olive oil
2 each, lemons, zest and juice
1/2 cup fine chopped shallots
1/2 cup chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
2 tablespoons crushed black peppercorns
Mix well.
Spring brings Easter, and Easter brings a yen for lamb and ham and the vegetables of spring. We've collected some suggestions from editor at large Harvey Steiman for dishes and wine matches to put on your holiday table, but we also have exclusive recipes, courtesy of Food Arts magazine: a special vegetarian dish from chef Christopher Gross of Christopher's Fermier Brasserie & Paola's Wine Bar in Phoenix, Ariz., plus roast lamb and a special spring nettle soup from chef David Walford of Splendido at the Chateau in Avon, Colo. And if nothing on this page whets your appetite, Harvey's got 