Spring Fling: Add spring flavors to your pizza menu

It was another muddy spring but here I was again, lurking into my favorite “Ramp Holler”, (local vernacular for “hollow.”) This little valley was my favorite foraging spot for the first wild food of spring — ramps. This location always produced early and heavy because of the lack of humans, a good water source, and the protection from the cold by the steep ridges above. With each step I felt like being in a slow-motion color machine turning from dark winter brown to splotchy light green then to the most intense viridian green. The ramp “Flags,” or wide leaves fluttered in the breeze all the way up from valley floor to the steep ridges making them move like a green ocean. As I bent over to harvest my first handful of ramp flags, I started thinking about how I would present them on pizza with all the other spring favorites that will soon be popping this new year.

Spruce Springsteen

From mushrooms to spruce tips, the bounty of spring has always added a positive addition to my menu mix. Both wild and cultivated spring foods can be showcased on pizzas and can turn a seemingly “normal” slice of pizza into a game changer. There are so many places to find spring foods. Farmers markets, vegetable auctions, farm visits and even local grocery stores are good locations to find foods in April and May. Here are some wild and farmed spring greats:

Evergreens

The depth of flavor gained by baby pinecones, spruce tips, cedar buds, and even wintergreen is pure magic. I like creating a balsamic-like glaze by reducing the buds with water and sugar. This pairs wonderfully on burrata, gorgonzola and with pine nuts, hazelnuts, Prosciutto di Parma, onions, ricotta, roasted garlic and bacon. Spruce tip Panna Cotta from Italy, or Posset, the British custard, are both cream forward and easy to make. Italian Mugolio and Varenye from the Caucusus both rely upon sugar to draw out the piney goodness of young buds and cones and make thick-sweet sauces that rival and even eclipse Balsamic glaze in flavor.

Spring Violet

by far the best edible flower for garnish you can put on a pizza. There are over a hundred different types of violets, but the common blue violet is the most harvested. Although they are all edible, some are more palatable than others. These are easy to spot and harvest. The greens can also be used in salads, soups and stewed.

Kale

Over wintered kale starts popping even before many other spring foods. This is perfect sauteed or shocked in hot then cold water before topping on pizza with garlic, olive oil, sausage, pork, potatoes, chorizo, onions, lemon, bell peppers, thyme, cheddar and Parmigiano.

Dandelion

An often-forgotten spring food here in the U.S. has been used for centuries in Europe. I was taught by a professional wild forager in the Dolomite Mountains of Italy to dig the small, spring dandelion up and trim the “hip” of the plant, cutting off the roots and the stems leaving a meaty round core like a small artichoke with a sweet, honey flavor with a nutty finish. In the middle of this core is one or two dandelion buds or “capers.” Both can be sauteed, roasted or pickled easily and are perfect to pair with Prosciutto di Parma or Speck, spinach, pork, chicken and mushrooms.

Garlic Scapes

These tender stems shoot from the spring garlic bulb after ramp season. They grow curly and end in an uncloaked flower head. The scape needs to be cut off to ensure the plant doesn’t expend its energy and ruin the underground bulb. I’ve found that using only young scapes that are foot-long are the best because they get tough and stringy the older they grow. Milder than garlic bulbs, scapes can be sauteed, pickled, roasted and pureed into pestos. I like to make Sicilian-style salmoriglio, salsa verde or garlic ricotta. Scapes are perfect for pork, chicken or anchovy themed pizzas.

Ramps

Ramps are the first things to pop up in spring. Try to avoid buying from disreputable dealers who send unsavory people out to clean out the whole forest of ramps. I never use the bulbs unless thinning out patches to grow more. Using the tops either sauteed or just raw before the pizza bake makes for a sublime taste and silky chew. Great with artichokes, asparagus, speck, anchovy, goat cheese, Gruyere, Bel Paese, Ricotta, Parmigiano, potatoes, morels, lentils and ham.

Asparagus

This comes in middle-spring and can be thin or fat depending upon the weather. Most store-bought asparagus is old and sold by the pound with a woody end and even mushy tops. Snap the bottom to find the perfect tender spot. Roasted or sauteed asparagus is wonderful and even raw (if local) on a pizzas or in calzones and makes traditional barriers on pizza like the famous “Quattro Stagione.” The perfect asparagus pairing is with whole grain mustard, pistachio, ricotta, parmigiano, bacon, anchovy, lemon, orange, pestos and in risotto.

Strawberry

This is the great finale of spring, coming at the tail end of this season. Local strawberries, unlike the hollow, hurried and sprayed junk found at the stores, are smaller and sweeter. Perfect for the agro dolce or sweet and sour pizzas like gorgonzola, strawberry and hazelnut pizzas. During the glut of strawberries, I turn to making sweet, pickled strawberries with just a touch of vinegar. These red wonders really shine with rhubarb, olive oil, mascarpone, almonds, spicy capicola, lemon, basil, mango, balsamic, mint and orange.

Morel Mushrooms

These are the spring king of mushrooms. They pop up, (or not) almost every year in the same locations. Morels are especially rare because they are hard, almost impossible to grow because of their symbiosis with forest trees. If you are lucky enough to find these hollow, triangular shaped wonders, you can cut them in half vertically or stuff with chicken mousse, asparagus, garlic, ramps and bacon. I recommend putting the morels on pizza halfway through the bake, so they don’t disintegrate. Fontina, Parmigiano and chevre are great morel cheeses. Lemon, olive oil, black pepper, caraway, fava beans, serrano ham, shallots and country ham are perfect pairings for morels.

Other spring foods that are abundant either in the forest or at farmers markets are Watercress, Wild Violet, Chickweed, Lambs Quarters, Fiddlehead fern, Turnips and Radishes.

John Gutekanst owns Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio.