May in Vermont

The weather report calls for a temperature of 24 degrees tonight and we can only hope that the tender shoots that have appeared finally will not be seriously damaged. It is commonly acknowledged that annuals don't get planted until after Memorial Day and with this cold, you can understand why. In the gardens, the apple blossoms have finally started and the lilacs are starting to show some color. The growing season here is very short and the perennials are growing by the day.
I stopped in at Lilac Ridge Farm last week to check on annual starters. Amanda was in the fields, helping her workers to plant the sets for the coming season. She noticed the strawberries were beginning to flower and hoped the berries would start coming in during the second week of June. She told me she and her husband Ross would be appearing in a movie entitled "Food, Inc."
a documentary of the farming industry and the trends toward organic production. Her connection is through the founder of Stoneyfield Farm yogurt, who purchases the milk produced on their farm. One of her highlights for the spring was to be invited to a preview showing in New York with Martha Stewart, who was the recepient of this spring's maple syrup.
In the restaurant kitchen, I have been working with the products of the spring. Fiddle head ferns which have moved from local to upstate Vermont and Maine, ramps, or wild leeks, which are also moving further northward, the morel mushrooms, not found locally, but shipped in through my distributer, Black River Produce.
Less precious ingredients but no less tasty, are the english peas, fava beans, asparagus and artichokes which are the tastes of spring for me.
Speaking of the spring ingredients, I would like to include a recipe for my simple but flavorful vegetable puree soups. I start with a rich chicken stock, either from scratch or if you have a favorite packaged broth, that will do. I clean the vegetable and trim the ends, shell the peas or whatever leftovers from the vegetable prep and simmer those in the chicken stock until they have imparted their flavors into the broth. Then they are strained out and discarded and the stock is brought to a boil. Then the vegetable is added and cooked just until tender and immediately pureed and strained to maintain the color and the fresh, just cooked flavors, seasoned with salt and pepper and served immediately. I often serve a small cup of this as an amuse bouche before dinner continues.