When it was suggested that this column should be seasonally relevant, as the advent of spring would coincide closely with its own arrival, it seemed like a “no brainer.” We restaurant people love seasonality, as do those we seek to woo. What a great idea, spring! Blossoms and dew, fresh and new.
Former Lowell chef Marc Spooner, now plying his skills at NYC event caterer Great Performances, describes spring as “the beginning of a culinary season … the renewal of life, the breath of fresh air & the essence of green.”
Not so fast Big Guy! As I further contemplated relevancy, and the fact that this magazine speaks to life in the Greater Merrimack Valley, I began to imagine that as far as culinary opportunity goes, the local spring is perhaps as much a spiritual opportunity as an opportunity for recipe transformation. And certainly a great challenge to the locavore among us.
Green? In April? This may be a tougher assignment than I thought, as I stare out the window for perhaps some inspirational light, I imagine rising temperatures replacing falling snowflakes. Perhaps a winter week in Aruba could help me achieve the necessary sunny state of mind. (I further imagine mvm paying for such needed “research and development.” Did I mention that I have an active imagination?)
Expense account be damned, I am soon lounging beachfront, imagining that my pineapple and coconut refreshment smells more like a mint julep of April showers, May flowers, melting haze and longer days. From my dock-side palapa, I watch as the literal “daily catch” of grouper and mahi-mahi is unloaded by local fisherman, as I imagine the cold-and-dirty, ice-covered North morphing into the warm and fruitful, as cross-country crab cousins, soft shells from Maryland and kings from the Left Coast, become available again. I think of the words of Scott Pelletier, chef at Haverhill’s Evenfall Restaurant: “Although ramps and fiddleheads are great, we also get to enjoy everyone’s spring, if not what’s yet available locally.”
Along those lines I imagine new asparagus and ferns, but then “restraint;” spring is described “in one word” by chef Robert Jean, who resides in Lowell but presides over the kitchen at Boston’s (incredible) Sorellina.
Chef Jean warns of patience and our inclination to “become tired of winter and jump the gun, trading perfect root vegetables and braises for overpriced, undersized morels and [greens] that have not come close to peak sweetness.”
Tired of winter myself, I imagine that this trip satisfies my accountant’s criteria for “tax write-off” while gazing at seas as green as peas and sand as white as … snow! Oh, spring, as Victor Hugo once said: “Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.”
Scott Plath, along with his wife Kathleen, own Cobblestones of Lowell and moonstones, in Chelmsford, MA. Scott possesses a deep well of humorous and insightful stories that he will share with us regularly.
A View from the Kitchen: Imagining… Spring?
Former Lowell chef Marc Spooner, now plying his skills at NYC event caterer Great Performances, describes spring as “the beginning of a culinary season … the renewal of life, the breath of fresh air & the essence of green.”
Not so fast Big Guy! As I further contemplated relevancy, and the fact that this magazine speaks to life in the Greater Merrimack Valley, I began to imagine that as far as culinary opportunity goes, the local spring is perhaps as much a spiritual opportunity as an opportunity for recipe transformation. And certainly a great challenge to the locavore among us.
Green? In April? This may be a tougher assignment than I thought, as I stare out the window for perhaps some inspirational light, I imagine rising temperatures replacing falling snowflakes. Perhaps a winter week in Aruba could help me achieve the necessary sunny state of mind. (I further imagine mvm paying for such needed “research and development.” Did I mention that I have an active imagination?)
Expense account be damned, I am soon lounging beachfront, imagining that my pineapple and coconut refreshment smells more like a mint julep of April showers, May flowers, melting haze and longer days. From my dock-side palapa, I watch as the literal “daily catch” of grouper and mahi-mahi is unloaded by local fisherman, as I imagine the cold-and-dirty, ice-covered North morphing into the warm and fruitful, as cross-country crab cousins, soft shells from Maryland and kings from the Left Coast, become available again. I think of the words of Scott Pelletier, chef at Haverhill’s Evenfall Restaurant: “Although ramps and fiddleheads are great, we also get to enjoy everyone’s spring, if not what’s yet available locally.”
Along those lines I imagine new asparagus and ferns, but then “restraint;” spring is described “in one word” by chef Robert Jean, who resides in Lowell but presides over the kitchen at Boston’s (incredible) Sorellina.
Chef Jean warns of patience and our inclination to “become tired of winter and jump the gun, trading perfect root vegetables and braises for overpriced, undersized morels and [greens] that have not come close to peak sweetness.”
Tired of winter myself, I imagine that this trip satisfies my accountant’s criteria for “tax write-off” while gazing at seas as green as peas and sand as white as … snow! Oh, spring, as Victor Hugo once said: “Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.”
Scott Plath, along with his wife Kathleen, own Cobblestones of Lowell and moonstones, in Chelmsford, MA. Scott possesses a deep well of humorous and insightful stories that he will share with us regularly.