I know I’ve said this before but the hardest part of the culinary year is that time between New Years and the beginning of spring when there is little available in my region that is really appealing to eat. Oh there are exceptions, some fine fish in season, the mushroom man grows Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms locally, and they become the mainstays of our diet. But trips to the store are often dreary expeditions and the thought of preparing meals is not something that I always look forward to.
This year’s upheavals in our personal lives have also contributed and I have not been finding great inspiration in the kitchen. Oh we eat well, usually simple grilled meat or fish and some kind of simple vegetable, but I have not eagerly made the transition to planning and cooking three meals a day, it has been many years since this was a part of my daily routine and starting up again with the post-winter dearth of appealing produce has been difficult.
All that is about to change.
The local farmer’s market begins on Sunday, the best Mother’s day treat I can imagine. And although I don’t expect a lot this early in the season, I know there will be fresh greens and mushrooms, fresh eggs and freshly killed chickens that I don’t have to drive an extra 20 miles to collect.
But far more exciting events have been taking place as well. A day or two ago I received a call: “Are you still interested in ramps?” I was asked. And today I looked out the kitchen window to just in time to see a big basket of ramps and morels being carried up to our front door.
For the first time in what seems like a lifetime, I spent the morning and early afternoon planning menus, cleaning produce and dreaming of all the things I can prepare. Dinners will be filled with ramps and morels for the next few days, although I am also planning on collecting more morels for the freezer. I read recently about freezing ramps as well, and that idea sounds intriguing. I haven’t tried it yet, but the idea of extending the ramp season even just a little bit it is tempting.
Aren’t they lovely?
I would have thought that the ramps would have been out for some time by now, and they might well have been, but I hadn’t seen any in the market or on my walk. I did see a few at Adams last week, but they looked old and wilted and even somewhat slimy. Usually the low areas, bogs, and fields along the streams feeding the Hudson River along the trail I normally walk are covered with ramps this time of year, but they are just beginning to appear. I can’t figure it out. The trees have leafed out right on schedule, their schedule must be daylight dependent, because many other things are late, I suppose those plants that depend on soil temperature to tell them when it is safe to emerge are the ones that are reluctant to spring forth this year.
Well, we have ramps and morels now. And I am grateful. And I enjoyed cleaning the ramps and planning the menus, weighing out the morels for coming meals and I even put some aside to freeze. It was a wonderful day in the kitchen. A piece of pork loin was defrosted for dinner and I decided to try stuffing it. I spent a good bit of time poring over recipes, looking at what I had in the larder and deciding how to proceed, stuffed pork loin has not previously been a part of my repertoire, but I think it will be now. Most of the recipes I found called for too much bread and spice; I wanted the flavors of the morels and ramps to come through, so I stripped the ingredients down to the most basic elements. Somehow, it worked.
Pork Loin Stuffed with Morels and Ramps
Serves 4 to 6
1/2 pound morels
2 cups stock (I used capon stock because that was what I had on hand)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
9 ramps finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs, I used Gillian’s gluten-free breadcrumbs
2 pounds boneless pork loin roast
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Reserve 6 mushrooms and place them in the veal stock. Set aside. Finely chop remaining mushrooms and place them in a bowl.
In a large skillet, heat 1 ½ tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the chopped ramps and garlic to the skillet and sauté until softened. Stir in butter and allow to melt. Add contents of skillet to bowl containing chopped mushrooms. Add bread crumbs and a generous dash of salt and pepper. Allow stuffing mixture to cool to room temperature.
Make a hole through the length of the pork loin to use for the stuffing. Using a long knife pierce the loin through the center to the far side. Then turn the loin around and pierce again from the other end, aligning the cuts as well as possible. Then stretch the opening as much as possible to create a 1 ½ to 2 inch wide crevasse in the middle of the pork loin. Working from both ends, pack the stuffing into the opening, pushing toward the center. Rub the outside of the pork loin with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast pork in the middle of the oven for 1 hour, or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees F. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes.
While the pork is resting, place the roasting pan on top of the stove and add the stock with the reserved morel mushrooms and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 5 or 6 minutes.
Slice pork loin and serve with sauce.
This turned out really well and I will make it again. I think it would be quite amenable to other kinds of mushrooms and leeks or other onions. I might try it with garlic scapes in a few weeks.