No. 250: A New Spring Risotto with Peas, Asparagus, Mint, and Lemon
Plus: Grilled Chicken Naan Wraps, Cheesy Biscuits, how to cook black sea bass, farm stand and restaurant news.
🌷 🥬 Farm Stands Wake Up to Spring
There is something sweet about the way a Vineyard spring unfolds so tentatively. It can’t really make up its mind; at night the temperatures are still close to freezing, yet every morning something new is in bloom – the stubborn shadbush, those tiny pink Mayflowers, scrappy wild blueberries, giant magnolias, sunny daffodils. Rhubarb loves this weather. Mine is going nuts, but I have to cut the big flower (above) out of the middle to send energy back to the rest of the plant.
Best of all, the farm stands are shaking off winter, easing their way outside with locally grown flowers and fresh herbs in pots on their front porches and on roadside stands. Mermaid Farm had a big box of empty yogurt tubs on their front porch this morning with a sign saying “best greens ever.” They were all gone!
This week, Whippoorwill Farm on Old County Road in West Tisbury set up a tulip display on the front steps of the farm stand. Morning Glory’s affordable bouquets are stocked at the State Road farm stand in West Tisbury. (Pick up Morning Glory’s potted herbs at the farm store in Edgartown.) Beetlebung Farm continues to have its glorious tulips on the weekends. We’ve definitely become a tulip-obsessed Island.
In honor of our tentative spring, and while we wait (and wait) for (local) asparagus and peas, we have a new Spring Risotto recipe from Katie Leaird. Loaded with bright flavor as well as all the creamy, buttery, Parmesan-y goodness you’d expect from a comforting risotto, this is an all-in-one supper for a cool spring night, or a first course or side to serve with fish this weekend.