Stinging Nettle & Ramp Leaf Oil Pizza

Always a thrill stumbling into new areas- creeks lush with watercress and nettles and unfamiliar hillsides with healthy populations of ramps. It was still a little early for morels but I came home with plenty. We fired up a bunch of pizzas but I was most excited about this nettle, ramp leaf oil, sausage, and lemon zest pie. It was a good day. Video of the process below.

Ingredients:

Fresh stinging nettle tips (handle with care)

Fresh ramps (leaves only) *please leave bulbs in the ground

Shredded mozzarella

Crumbled sausage (sauteed in advance)

Lemon (to zest)

Good olive oil

Pecorino Romano

Pizza dough

The Nettles

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Prepare a large ice bath in a bowl.

3. Using tongs, drop your stinging nettle into a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Blanching will immediately nullify the stinging power of the nettle and you’ll then be able to handle it without concern.

4. Transfers the blanched nettle to the ice bath to shock them.

5. Drain, and squeeze out as much water as you can. Allow to air dry to remove even more water.

6. Drizzle with olive oil and set aside.

The Ramp Oil

1. Clean your ramp leaves in a cold bowl of water to remove any bits of dirt.

2. Trim the stems off completely leaving only the leaves behind.

3. Lay in the ramp leaves into your food processor (or blender) and add in good quality olive oil. You’ll have to use your best judgement on the amount depending on how many ramps you’re using. The consistency should be thinner than pesto.

4. Add a little dash of salt, and blitz for about a minute.

5. Transfer the puree into a fine mesh sieve and use a rubber spatula to press the oil down into a bowl. What’s left behind is a fragrant mash of ramp leaves with some traces of oil. This can be saved / frozen / and incorporated into countless other dishes. For now, you’re focusing on just the extracted oil that comes out of the sieve.

6. Transfer the oil into a container, ideally a squeeze bottle with cap. It’s ready to go. Store in the refrigerator.

The Dough

For the pizza dough I have been very happy using a Ken Forkish recipe from Flour Water Salt Yeast for an overnight dough (67% hydration) with levain. It’s one of the few recipes that I have decided not to mess with as it always yields great results.

The Assembly & Finishing

1. Stretch your dough and drizzle first with a little bit of olive oil.

2. Layer on your shredded mozzarella cheese.

3. Now evenly distribute the blanched nettles (in olive oil).

4. Spread out the cooked sausage crumble evenly.

5. Grate fresh Pecorino Romano over the top of the pie.

6. Bake your pizza. I use a wood fired Ooni Pro but use whatever works for you.

7. Drizzle on a generous amount of ramp oil.

8. Add fresh lemon zest.

9. Enjoy!

Wild Violet Donuts

I've been waiting for the right moment to do these wild violet sourdoughnuts. Viola sororia, known as the common blue violet, is pretty much everywhere you look right now, from the backyard to the deep woods. The flowers and leaves of this ephemeral native flower are edible and delicious. When the petals are infused with hot water it creates a vibrant hue that ranges from blue to violet. The infusion is pH sensitive and will react differently depending on how acidic or alkali the water is and can be manipulated with a drop or two of lemon juice. I made a glaze with the violet infusion which has a nice subtle floral taste and I topped them off with granulated violet sugar to give it a little texture. These were delicate, delicious and the process is incredibly fun. Video of the whole process below.

The Violet Syrup

Ingredients:

1:1:1 ratio of …

Wild violet flowers (stems removed)

Water (distilled)*

White granulated sugar

*The violet infusion is reactive to pH levels of the water. When using distilled water, the infusion will be a bright blue color. This can be manipulated by adding a few drops of lemon juice, which turns the infusion a vibrant purple/pink. But once you add the lemon, it will begin to overpower the subtle flavor of the violets.

Directions:

1. Bring the water to a near boil.

2. Mix together the hot water and violet flowers in a glass jar, stir, and allow to steep for 24 hrs. The color will gradually deepen.

3. Strain the flowers out using a fine mesh after 24 hrs.

4. Bring the infused mixture to a very low simmer and add an equal portion of white granulated sugar. Simmer on low for about ten minutes until the syrup begins to thicken. You may notice a color shift at this stage with the introduction of the sugar.

5. Allow to cool and store in the refrigerator until use. Will last for several months.

The Violet Sugar

Ingredients:

1:1 ratio of…

White granulated sugar

Wild violet flowers (stems removed)

Directions:

1. In a food processor blend together the sugar and flowers until it turns into a nice even purple sugar.

2. Because of the moisture in the flowers, it is best to use this sugar fresh or within a few days. Over time it will lose it’s vibrant color and will lump together in a way that becomes difficult to sprinkle.

Ingredients

230 g Manitoba 0 Flour (or similar)

25 g Whole Wheat Tumminia Flour (or similar)

40 g water

40 g sugar

50 g butter (cubed)

90 g eggs (approx 2 medium sized)

5 g salt

110 g active sourdough starter

1 tsp vanilla

Approx gallon neutral oil

*makes approximately 6 - 8 donuts depending on size

The recipe is spread out over three days and in my opinion is well worth the wait. The natural leavening always yields a tastier end result. I normally start my process around 12pm on day 1 which results in fresh donuts for breakfast two days later.

The Dough

Directions:

1. 12 pm Day 1 - In a stand mixer, combine all your ingredients and mix for about 10 minutes.

2. This is very similar to a brioche dough, so at first it will feel quite sticky to the touch, even after ten minutes of mixing.

3. Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover.

4. Over the next 5-6 hours you’ll want to fold the dough with your hands 4 times. Let the dough relax for at least 30 minutes in between each fold. By the fourth fold the dough will feel a lot less sticky and will be smoother to the touch. Avoid the urge to add flour if you find it is too sticky.

5. 6pm Day 1 - Transfer the covered bowl to the refrigerator and forget about it for 24 hrs.

6. 6pm Day 2 - Remove dough from the refrigerator and allow to relax for about 30 minutes. Do one more round of folding and set out at room temperature overnight.

7. 7am Day 3 - Gently flour your work surface and dump out the dough.

8. Bring your neutral oil up to 350F.

9. Use your hands to spread it out evenly. Use a rolling pin to gently roll out the dough to approximately 3/4 inch thickness. Do not press down too hard as you want to keep rise to the dough.

10. Using a circular cookie cutter approx 4” in diameter, punch out as many donuts as possible. Save the scraps for maltagliate - ugly leftover shapes of dough that shouldn’t go to waste!

11. Use another circular punch about 1/2” in diameter to punch out the holes in the center of each donut. Gently use your fingers to stretch it out ever so slightly.

12. Drop each circular dough into the oil and fry for about 3 minutes each side until golden brown.

13. Remove from the oil and set onto a rack or paper towels to dry off and cool slightly.

The Finished Donut

Ingredients:

1 cup Confectioner’s sugar

Wild violet syrup

Wild violet sugar

Flowers for garnish

Directions:

1. Prepare the violet glaze by mixing together about a cup of confectioner’s sugar with 1/4 cup of the wild violet syrup. Adjust accordingly so that the glaze is nice and thick, so it sticks to the donuts. Add more syrup if too thich, and add more confectioner sugar if too thin. *In a subsequent version of this I added blended flowers to the glaze which gave it nice flecks of purple color.

2. Once the donuts have cooled sufficiently, dip each one in the bowl of glaze and set onto a tray.

3. Sprinkle the violet sugar on top while the glaze is still wet so it sticks and binds together as the glaze hardens over the next few minutes.

4. Add a few wild violet flowers for garnish.

5. Enjoy.