The Seasonal Chef: Catching a Whiff of Spring at James

Ah spring, as delicate as a cherry blossom, a newborn chick, a warm breeze … You can tell yourself all that, but right now, I think spring stinks — and I’m loving it.

We hit the Greenmarket last weekend to fill bags with any and everything new, from the first tart stalks of rhubarb to the must-haves of the moment: foraged ramps. Then we stopped in to visit with my parents. As I was sipping coffee at their table I found myself wondering: did my folks just get a hamster? “What’s that smell?” I asked. “I think it’s your groceries dear,” my mother replied.

Yup. Ramps are a spicy, garlicky wild leek with a pinkish little bulb of a base and floppy, green, flag-like leaves, and they’re big news at the farmer’s market, where they herald the arrival of a new season of vegetables. But while ramps get top billing, they’re not the only allium family shoots to show up in early spring. In fact, their cousins—young garlic and spring onions—make the whole thing rather confusing, since when you get right down to it they all bear resemblance to scallions and smell like socks.

Leave it to chef Bryan Calvert of the suave, stylish to tame all this funk into a soup that tastes like new grass with a whisper of sweet campfire smoke. “It’s cool,” he says, that after almost three years on the residential corner of Carlton Avenue and St. Marks Street, the restaurant has become an occasional detour for farmers heading to Grand Army Plaza with their produce: “Sometimes they stop in on the way to the market to let me know what they’ve got.”

Calvert, who co-owns James with Deborah Williamson, tries to keep the menu as local and sustainable as possible, and as he points out, doing so is about to get much easier. The chef began changing the menu a few weeks ago to reflect the first hints of the season, and now they’ve fully switched over to a spring menu — which they’ll begin to phase out as summer dishes enter the scene in mere weeks.

The little onion and garlic stalks that Calvert purees into his smooth green soup become sweet with low, slow cooking, and the smoky, salty additions of bacon and shavings of aged Pecorino balance the vegetal freshness of all that Greenmarket goodness. Try his recipe in these fleeting days when the market is full of stinky ramps and their brethren, and the nights are still cool enough to warrant a bowl of soup.

Spring Onion Soup with Bacon and Pecorino
Look for sweet-smelling spring onions with fresh greens. They should resemble scallions; the more mature ones that have begun to form a round bulb are more fibrous.
Serves 4

¼ cup diced Applewood or boar bacon
1 bunch spring onions, cleaned, whites separated from the greens
2 ramps or young garlic, cleaned, bulb separated from the greens
2 shallots
1 quart vegetable stock
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter2 ounces dry white wine
1/2 cup cleaned spinach
Sprig of fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼ cup finely grated Pecorino Foglie di Noce or Pecorino Romano cheese, for serving

1. In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, cook the diced bacon until it is crisp and has rendered its fat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a plate.

2. Chop the onion whites, ramp bulbs and shallots. Melt the butter in the bacon fat, then add the chopped onion whites, ramp bulbs and shallots. Cover and cook on low heat without browning, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, roughly chop the onion and ramp greens and spinach. Add the greens to the pot, cover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 10 minutes.

4. Add the white wine and simmer for a few minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock, add the thyme sprig and bring the soup to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

5. Discard the thyme sprig. Working in small batches, blend the soup well (alternatively, use a Vita Prep blender); for a smoother texture, strain the soup through a fine mesh sieve. Season with salt and pepper, thin the soup with a little water or stock if needed, and serve warm, garnished with the crisped bacon and grated cheese.