This being my first post, it is probably a good idea for a little background. Spring is marking the beginning of a new year for me. I have my own kitchen, a new job and a whole lot of drive to turn my one and only passion (food, obviously) into an actual pastime. Luckily I live in a city that allows me complete access to seasonal produce and a ton of fresh products. I am not into recipes so I am not going to be making intensely comprehensive lists of my exact ingredients, but I will try hard not to leave anything out.
After going to the market twice and spending a snowy morning at the year-round farmers market, I had a huge variety of things to start cooking. Stinging nettles, early morel mushrooms, parsnips, pastas, and leeks are all sitting on my counters and in my refrigerator waiting for me to turn them into something.
This dish was my first try. Fiddle Head fern and morel pappardelle. Cleaning those ferns was a really strange experience. I had to clean of quite a bit of the brown papery skin on the outside of the ferns. I almost expected them to stretch their legs and run away. They look like alien bugs. It is probably because I just re-watched the movie Alien, but I swear they looked just like the little guy that comes out of Kane's stomach.
I fried up some pancetta and set it aside. Sauteed some shallots, morels, the ferns. Boiled the pasta (fresh egg, enough for one). After the ferns were soft and lost their bitterness, I added the pancetta back to the mix. Next came a little butter, some pasta water and wine reduced down to make the sauce. Threw in the perfectly cooked pappardelle and I was golden.
This turned out exactly how I had intended; light, fresh and tasty. The perfect evening meal.
At the farmer's market, I split a bag of stinging nettles with a friend. I had no idea what to do with these things. I have been stung by them before (which was not very enjoyable) and I didn't think that putting them in my mouth was the next logical step. Thanks to the miracle that is the inter-web, I found more than enough information to assist me in this task. Two things that stood out: 1. Don't touch the nettles until they have been blanched for at least 2 minutes 2. Use as you would spinach. So, I decided I wanted Spanikopita. I found 6 recipes and blended them together in an extremely informal way.
I assembled my ingredients. I decided to use all of the onion type items that I could find in my kitchen. I used some gloves to place the nettles into the boiling water. Strained and chopped them and sauteed them with the onion types things. Let the mixture cool and mixed in some egg, some ricotta and a lot of feta cheese. I squeezed some lemon for good taste and I was ready to deal with the phylo pastry. I was prepared for some sort of intense battle, but really...it was pretty easy to deal with. I wrapped all of that filling up in 10 minutes and popped it in the oven for 40 at 350 degrees. It smelled amazing and came out as I had hoped. Not bad for a first try on all accounts. I couldn't even tell that it wasn't spinach. There was a more herbal and green tasting flavor, but not really noticeable. If nettles are as good for me as I have heard, I will make them a regular in my kitchen, season permitting. 
P.S. Make sure you use enough oil to keep the phylo stuck together and it will get deliciously crispy.
