LOBSTER ROLLS vs SHRIMP BURGERS

So what happens when you take a Carolina girl as far north as you can go before you're out of the country, and as far east as the Atlantic allows?

You get comments like "Those look like crab pots." Or "We've got fish shacks like that." "Wonder how many up here have tasted Shrimp Burgers?"

We were in the Land of the Lobster Roll, traveling the coast of Maine, where a daily intake of lobster is required - not a hard regimen to follow at all. I can probably tell you where you can get the bestest and freshest, although with hundreds of lobster boats around, and floats marking lobster pots dotting the bays like flakes in one of those shake-up snow globes, fresh lobster is not an issue.

And why would I leave our Carolina beaches? Every summer when the temperatures soar, the heat really gets on my nerves, quite literally, since I have lived with MS now for over 30 years. So I was looking to escape the heat for a while. I just loved the cooler temperatures, and even the fog.

But I couldn't help but make comparisons to our NC coast.

KNUCKLE SANDWICHES

So-named because Lobster Rolls use only the claw meat, not the succulent tail, a real win-win (except for the lobster!) in that the tail meat can be used in fancied-up dishes and the claw meat doesn't go to waste. It's usually just moistened with a bit of mayonnaise, and sometimes a tiny amount of celery and onion are added.

The roll itself is important. It's like a hot dog bun that's sliced vertically, rather than horizontally. It's usually toasted, the best with butter. And the best are also, not surprisingly, homemade.

They're served in a one-ended cardboard slide, usually with chips, and go down fine with one of Maine's many local micro brews.

CRAB ROLLS, too

A Crab Roll and a cold local brew in Camden, ME

Another version, the Crab Roll, is made from Joshua crab, a big, fat old crab found in colder waters. We found that crabmeat not as flavorful as our luscious Carolina blue crabs.

Thurston's Lobster Pound near Bass Harbor on Mount Desert Island, ME

Most of the eateries serving mainly lobster are called "lobster pounds," like the entrapments used to house the many lobsters when the boats bring them in. Most are very casual places, many times a drive-in, with picnic tables available where you can watch the ten to twenty foot tides come in and out, and not have to worry about the inevitable mess that comes from eating whole lobsters!

The boilers for Trenton Lobster Pound on the causeway to Mount Desert Island

Most use a wood-fired outdoor stove to boil water in huge cauldrons in which they place the lobsters encased in a mesh sack. The one above is at the Trenton Lobster Pound, just before you drive over to the Acadia National Park, one of the most gorgeous places on earth. We took lobster rolls from here, along with a bottle of chilled Prosecco, to the top of Cadillace Mountain on Mount Desert Island, where we had a 360-degree view of the sunset. Spectacular!

THE CAROLINA VERSIONS.......

A Shrimp Burger from Big Oak Drive-In, Salter Path. Note the sandy beach.

SHRIMP BURGERS or BUSTER'S HIDEOUT or LOBSTER ROLL???

I gotta gimme a shrimp burger whenever I hit The Beach here in North Carolina.

When I'm headed to or from Morehead City, I stop at El’s, on HWY 70 between the railroad crossing and the hospital. El’s has been an institution in Morehead City since 1959, and it’s like driving into yesteryear. I love pulling into the parking lot, and vie for a shady spot under the spread of the live oak trees. It’s not long before one of the waitresses rushes out to the car, and asks through the window, “What’ll you have, shug?” Their shrimp burgers are always right on the mark with freshly fried shrimp, coleslaw that’s made daily, and ketchup.

Down in Salter Path, drive up to the Big Oak Drive-In. Coastal Living named the Big Oak as one of their top Seafood Dives a few years ago, and it's one of ours, too. Park, go place your order, then chat with others in line while you wait for them to call your name at the pick-up window. Then drive back up the island just a half mile to the beach public access and parking lot, and take your shrimp burger and big iced tea up the boardwalk and perch on the deck overlooking the beach. Can’t beat the view nor the burger.

Kill Devil Grill & Diner serves a fantastic shrimpburger, too, as well as a daily fish sandwich. Along the same lines as a shrimp burger are the fish or shrimp tacos served at The Bad Bean Taqueria way up in Timbuck II shopping center in Corolla.

The Wilmington area must have great shrimp or fish burgers, but I haven't been in a while. Why don't you send me some recommendations?

Although I absolutely love shrimp burgers, one of my very favorite sandwiches from the sea is a Buster's Hideout, a pita pocket stuffed with a fried soft shell crab, lettuce and tomato that's served at The Spouter Inn in Beaufort.

Crab pots waiting out the winter at Wanchese, NC

Lobster pots waiting for their turn near Bass Harbor, ME

CRAB POTS, LOBSTER POTS......TRAPPING & BAITING

Lobster pots are a bit bigger than our crab pots, but are similar in design. There's a place for bait to lure 'em in. A one-way funnel to get in. Distinctive floats that denote who the pot belongs to.

The lobster men and women haul in the pots in a very similar way, looping the line around a mechanical pulley, sorting the haul into baskets according to size, and baiting with fish. Lobsters have larger pinchers, but, they get wrestled into rubber bands. Crabs fling their pinchers about, all too eager to grab a finger.

LOBSTER SOFT SHELLS AND OUR OWN BUSTERS

At Round Pond near the Pemaquid Lighthouse, a young guy slung his jacket and lunch bag over his shoulder as he walked up the gangway from the docked lobster boat he'd been on since 4 a.m. "Got a good haul today?" we asked. "Pretty good," he replied, then laughed with us and answered a bunch of questions.

"What about soft shell lobsters? Are they any good?" We were curious because they were listed on the menus at a much cheaper price.

"My favorite." The meat is sweeter, he said. Juicer. "Just know they aren't as full," he said.

What he didn't say was that they would be full of water. And taste salty. And succulent and sweet. We were glad we were sitting outside on the balcony of our hotel room eating, where we could break each section of the lobster out over the ground, because the water literally gushed out of the shells.

Same concept as our soft shell crabs, but way different, too. The sea beast breaks free of its old shell, then retreats and hides while growing the new one. Those soft shell lobsters reminded me of the new but getting hard "paper shells" I've had on the Outer Banks.

RECIPE *** SOFT SHELL BLT***

I was so honored to find the SOFT SHELL BLT in THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK on the menu down at O'Neal's Seafood Market in Wanchese, in their new facility which now included a cafe´.

This is a fantastic sandwich, one of my very favorites.

SOFT SHELL BLT (c) from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008.
This is a delightful play on the classic Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich. Pancetta is an Italian bacon made from the belly of the pig, salt-cured but not smoked.
You choose whether you grill, fry or saute the soft shells. A gas grill is the easiest and less messy for cleanup. Also choose either a savory mayonnaise or a spicier version.
4 thin slices pancetta or thickly sliced bacon
4 jumbo soft shell crabs, cleaned
4 round, soft sandwich rolls
3/4 cup Creole Sauce (recipe follows)
4 to 8 romaine lettuce leaves or mesclun
4 large slices very ripe tomato
Place the pancetta in a skillet and turn heat medium high. Fry until almost crispy, then drain on paper towels.
Prepare soft shells by either grilling , frying or sautéing.
Meanwhile, place inner sides of sandwich rolls on the grill on under a broiler to toast lightly. Slather with your choice of sauce.
Layer the lettuce, tomato and warm pancetta on each roll. Top with cooked, hot crab, add another dollop of sauce. Serve immediately.

CREOLE SAUCE

With just a bit of a kick, this sauce adds a sassy finishing touch to crabs, shrimp or grilled fish, and it couldn’t be easier to make.

½ cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons drained capers, chopped

2 teaspoons finely chopped chives

2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish

1 generous tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, or to taste

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

¼ teaspoon salt

several grinds black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small serving bowl. Taste for seasonings and adjust.

PULLING POTS

A big jimmy, a prime crab!

One cool day last week down in the Outer Banks, we headed to the 'cheese - that's Wanchese - to "pull" Margaret's crab pots.

Vicki Basnight got the cranky old engine started, then pulled away from the dock at the family's compound on Roanoke Island, winding her way through the marsh's water trails, under bridges and to the back of one of the oldest fishing villages on the East Coast. Someone unfamiliar with those waters would have been aground in an instant, but Vicki has had her own boat since the age of 10.

Margaret and Vicki share the chore of pulling each other's pots. Margaret, an ex-restaurantuer and ex-accountant, now fishes for a living. Next time out, it'll be for Vicki's pots, the catch going straight to the kitchen at her family's restaurant, Basnight's Lone Cedar. Mark, who also works at the restaurant, is the muscle man for this trip

It was hard to believe, as I leaned back onto the railing, enjoying the sun on this glorious clear day - the smoke from the peat-fueled wildfires Down East were finally blowing the other way - that this was a working trip on the water.

Everybody's got a specific job. Vicki maneuvers the boat toward the float marking their pot. Each float is distinctive, like a signature, so that crabbers know whose is whose. In a choreographed moved much like a dance, Mark hooks the line near the float, slips it around the winch, flips the switch and waits for the pot to surface. Then he hauls it over to the sorting table and turns it upside down and shakes out the crabs. It takes a shake or two, for those crabs know they don't want to leave the safety of the pot where they've fed and possibly gotten it on with the chandler's wife.

Then with gloved hands, Margaret measures each crab against handy measuring sticks in the catch basin, checking to see that it's long enough from shoulder to shoulder or else it gets thrown back in. The crab then gets tossed into a bushel basket sorted according to size.

"Country," who works nights as a probation officer, has the worst job, picking out three thawed bait fish, today stinky menhaden, to stuff into the bait trap. Then Mark picks the pot back up, rotates it so that the bait trap faces down, then stuffs in back in the water once Vicki has the boat in place.

My job? To stay out of the way, and then entertain the crew, along with my friend Della. So we tell jokes, and I ask a lot of questions.

I'll tell you one thing I learned: I will never, ever, complain about the cost of seafood, like crabmeat, ever, ever again. The work involved is tremendous, dirty and needing lots of muscle, and the cost of a boat, dock, and fuel are tremendous as well. Then someone has to pick the crabmeat out of its shell and pack it into pound cups, another tedious job that used to be done by older women in the small fishing villages lining our coast, like Oriental or Ocracoke. Today it's mostly migrant workers or Latinos.

I learned that females have to be a certain length to be legal. Those with bright orange roe sacks - some huge - are thrown back in so that they can make little crab babies.

The big boys - the huge jimmies - are the once most prized and bring the most for the crabbers. Margaret expected them to fetch about $75 per bushel, and the other smaller sizes to bring in $40 and $30 each.

I had to bail on them at the Manteo town dock to go to my book signing at Manteo Bestsellers (after a shower!). After they dropped me off, they found their "honey spot" and wound up with 11 bushels total. Margaret was pleased with her sale later over at Wanchese.

Margaret saved a bushel to take up to her sister's in Greensboro for the weekend. She steamed them on her back porch in South Nags Head to keep the smell and cooking mess at bay. I bet they spread newspapers on a big table and spent a pleasant evening with beer and conversation while cracking crab.

You can do the same. Just follow the RECIPE below!

CRAB BOIL

Boil up a big pot of live crabs, spread them on newspapers and provide pliers, lobster crackers, small hammers, and plenty of towels to extract the marvelous meat from the bellies and claws. A meal will take hours and dozens of crabs, so make sure you’ve got some good conversations going. And ice cold beer. And some paper towels!

Big pot 2/3 full of hot water

3 Tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning

1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper

12 live crabs

melted butter

cocktail sauce

1. Bring water to boil. Add Old Bay and crushed red pepper. Stir. Add crabs, reduce heat to medium. Cover and boil for five minutes. Drain crabs into sink or pluck from water and place in extra large bowl.

2. On the table, have lots of small knives, forks, pliers, lobster crackers or small hammers and a roll of paper towels. Have small bowls of melted butter and cocktail sauce within easy reach of each person.

3. Place crabs directly on the newspaper. Let guests have at it, let conversations roll, and hope no screaming babies demand attention, for you’ll have to wash up first.

Serves 4 to 6

Chasing Soft Shells

Last week the soft shells eluded us Down East, on Harkers Island. We were told they had headed north.

And sure 'nuff, on a sailing trip this weekend, a few hours further north where the Rappahannock River meets the great Chesapeake Bay, we found 'em, in the lovely, little historic town of Urbanna, VA.

In a small shack near the dinghy dock, "peelers" were being watched 24/7 in filtered and aerated tanks. As soon as they slipped out of their hard old coats, they were snagged, packed between layers of newspaper, and set into a refrigerator.

We snagged a dozen ourselves, carefully transporting them back to the boat for a gourmet lunch indeed.

PAPER NUGGETS

Spry at 82, and quite talkative, the silver-haired lady with painted fingernails and in white fishing boots clipped claws and legs from "paper shells," crabs who've shed their hard shells and gone beyond the "nekkid" state of being a soft shell, to building back their crusty armor.

Born on Tangier Island, the island across the bay inside the Eastern Shore that's much like the sandy spits of land that make up NC's Outer Banks, her father, brothers, son and just about anyone in her family have always fished and crabbed.

Clipping the apron, removing the lungs and all the vestiges, she was stripping the paper shells down to their bare innards. Only tender cartilage remained between chunks of that famed, delicate blue crabmeat. The resulting round "nugget" would be deep-fat fried.

"It was something my son came up with," she said. Most paper shells are just tossed back dead into the water, so this was a way to use the still tasty meat. She would freeze what she had prepared that day, adding it to others stocked up for the annual Oyster Festival held each November in Urbanna, when these tasty morsels would be fried and sold under her family tent.

GRILLING SOFT SHELLS

Back on board, we considered our options for cooking our nabbed soft shell treats. My favorite way to cook them is to saute them in butter, but it can be a rather messy transaction with butter splatters when the crabs spit and pop. So we opted for the grill attached to the side of the boat, which would keep any splatters out over the water.

Oh yum. Those soft shells were worth any splatters of rain we endured on our sail, any wind on our nose, any chop in the Chesapeake. Nothing could be finer than soft shells, even if they weren't in Carolina!

Here's the recipe from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008. (c)

GRILLED SOFT SHELLS with CREOLE SAUCE

Hot and crunchy is how these soft shells come straight off the grill. This is one of the easiest ways to prepare this seasonal treat, and allows the succulent texture and taste of the crabmeat to shine.

Simply serve 2 to 3 soft shells per person over a bed of lightly dressed greens. We found using a perforated grill pan kept the crab legs from falling through the grates and breaking off. If you prefer to leave out the hot sauce, it will still be delicious.

12 medium soft shells, cleaned

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

12 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 ½ teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco, or to taste

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat grill.
2. Pat cleaned soft shells dry, and lay them in a shallow dish.
3. Over medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic and stir for about one minute. Remove from heat and add the hot sauce and lemon juice. Stir to mix.
4. Brush the butter sauce over both sides of each soft shell, then dribble excess over the legs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Allow soft shells to sit until the grill is ready, or about 10 minutes.
5. When grill is medium hot, place crabs evenly over grill without touching. Close the lid and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, depending on thickness. Turn the crabs over, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until crabs have gotten a bit crisp and golden brown.

YIELD: 4 to 6 servings

I GOT CRABS

I had a big, significant birthday this week. One present I had to open on the spot because it came straight from the fridge. Inside was one of my favorite foods ever......crab claws.

These blue crabs were just caught in pots baited with mullet and thrown over their dock at the mouth of the White Oak River outside of Swansboro, NC. Norva boiled up a mess of them for a magnificent crab dip for her dinner party, and Mike got the job of "picking" the backs, saving the claws for another event - my Birthday Gift! What a great present for this foodie!

Bring out the newspaper and the cocktail sauce and crab crackers and forget the damned candles, the number of which could burn the house down! What a treat!

TIS THE SEASON

When the waters start to warm, the crabs crawl out from the mucky muck of the sounds and creeks where they've spent the winter. Folks all up and down the Carolina coast start baiting their crab pots and throwing them into their favorite spots usually sometime around Tax Day, April 15th, or earlier.

This year, the crabs were on the move a bit earlier. On April 8th, I was down in Southern Pines with THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK to "advise" participants on the Sandhills Farm to Table Co-op about what to do with the wonderful bounty supplied by Core Sound Seafood, a wonderful CSF or community supported fishery that delivers all over the state. Eddie and Alison Willis of Harkers Island brought some very active jimmies, male crabs, along with flounder and scallops for co-op members.

Eddie is the fourth generation to fish from Harkers Island. He and Alison tend to crab pots, hunt down clams in the wild (rather than farm), and tend to soft shells 24-7 during the season.

There's an old saying that the soft shells crabs start coming in at the first full moon in May. That would be May 17th, but already the soft shells have headed north from Core Sound toward the Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds. Just this past weekend I stopped in to see the Willis's soft shell operation at Mr. Big's Seafood, to find them gone like the soft shells, in search of more peelers.

PEELERS PEEL OUT

"Peelers," what those in the know call crabs ready to shed or peel their coats, have had a very early season.

But the hard crabs are out there and are filling up baskets headed to markets here and further north in the Chesapeake.

There's nothing finer than spending an evening after boiling up a mess of crabs doused with Old Bay, or as the old timers do, with onions and potatoes and sometimes corn. Spread newspapers on the table, melt some butter and dish up some cocktail sauce, then sit, pick and enjoy while sipping on a cold beer.

DO YOUR OWN CRAB BOIL

adapted from THE OUTER BANKS COOKBOOK: Recipes & Traditions from NC's Barrier Islands by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2008.

Boil up a big pot of live crabs, spread them on newspapers and provide pliers, lobster crackers, small hammers, and plenty of towels to extract the marvelous meat from the bellies and claws. A meal will take hours and dozens of crabs, so make sure you’ve got some good conversations going.

And picking crabs yourself will earn newfound respect for the art and hard labor required for providing cleaned, cracked crabmeat in one-pound containers. Just decades ago, the older women in outlying communities of the real Down East, like Smyrna and Atlantic, spent hours each day, sitting and chatting and carrying on while cracking crab for commercial distributors. Now, women from the Yucatan in Mexico come up by the busload to spend each season standing for hours at huge metal tables, cracking and extracting crabmeat.

Big pot 2/3 full of hot water

3 Tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning

1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper

12 live crabs

melted butter

cocktail sauce

1. Bring water to boil. Add Old Bay and crushed red pepper. Stir. Add crabs, reduce heat to medium. Cover and boil for five to 10 minutes. Drain crabs into sink or pluck from water and place in extra large bowl.

2. On the table, have lots of small knives, forks, pliers, lobster crackers or small hammers and a roll of paper towels. Have small bowls of melted butter and cocktail sauce within easy reach of each person.

3. Place crabs directly on the newspaper. Let guests have at it, let conversations roll, and hope no screaming babies demand attention, for you’ll have to wash up first.

Serves 4 to 6

THE BEST LAMB MONEY CAN BUY

Julia Child walked up behind me, and looked over the buffet table laden with sliced lamb roasts. "Ooohed," she cooed in that famous weird voice. "That's not lamb, that's mutton!" She turned and looked at me, and asked, "Can't you smell the fat?"

She then leaned in and whispered, "Americans just don't know that lamb is supposed to be harvested while young, while still small and tender." Julia had taken a shine to me at this food writer's conference because I am six feet two, the height she used to be, and wore big shoes like she did. I was just in awe, struck by her consummate interest and passion for foods, in her late 80s. I wanna be like her when I grow up!

I wish I could have introduced Julia to Craig Rogers, the shepherd presiding over a flock of 600 Texel and Katahdin blended sheep, bred for their fat. His sheep graze on rye, tasty white and red clover, and timothy or orchard grass seeded on rolling hills that butt up next to the Blue Ridge mountains in Patrick Springs in southwest Virginia, and are kept in line with border collies that Rogers breeds and competes. Thus the name of his farm - Border Springs Farm.

CRAIG ROGERS, SHEPHERD, PhD

He's such a jolly fellow who truly loves what he's doing that I refer to him as "Mr. Rogers" in THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK. But Dr. Rogers is more like it, as he is a former dean of engineering. He and his wife, Joan, bought the farm for horses when he got a job at VA Tech. On campus one day, they both watched a demo with border collies, and well, a dog or two was brought to the farm. To compete, these super smart dogs need something to herd, so thus, six sheep joined the farm. But as Craig says, his competitive spirit got in the way. The more sheep trainers had, the better their dogs did, and so more sheep were added.

But then what to do with all those sheep?

Well, why not raise them for food?

BRED FOR FAT

Julia Child would have loved the lamb from Border Springs Farm, especially their fat.

Craig sought out breeds that would produce a good fat profile and yet have a mild flavor. He like the Katahdin breed because they shed their wool and thus he would not have to shear them. They "...don't have a lot of lanolin, which is where the musky taste comes from in the fat. But the meat tastes too mild," he said in a recent Washington Post profile. So they are sired by Texels, who provide an earthy flavor.

Their offspring are weaned naturally, then grass-fed on that gourmet salad bar Craig re-seeds every other year. They're slaughtered at between seven and 10 months, when they are just under 100 pounds.

Their meat is just fabulous. It's full of flavor that's sweet and not at all muttony, and nicely marbled with a mild, creamy fat. Craig says the thick layer of fat on the racks are used by some chefs to make bacon! And unlike some pasture-raised meat, it is not so lean that it requires slow and low cooking. He takes exception to that general rule, and says that other farmers must not be providing good grasses for their animals.

Notable chefs in New York, Washington DC, Richmond, Atlanta and other Southern cities receive lamb from Border Springs Farm, some hand-delivered by Craig. You may also order from his website, www.borderspringsfarm.com

LAMBS ARE JUST TOO CUTE

Yes, lambs are cute, as well as delicious. So how can we rectify our human consumption?

Craig's farm and lamb meat are Animal Welfare Approved, which means the animals are treated humanely at all times. The lambs at Border Springs Farm are treated with respect and lovingly attended. Happy animals make good meat, Craig says. And he and Joan bring lambs into their kitchen and bottle-feed those rejected by their mothers. Those with names become pets. Note that Joan is a vegetarian.

As the Native Americans did, it behooves us to give thanks and our respect to those animals sacrificed for us.

OUR BLUE RIDGE

Craig appeared this week on Roanoke's WSLS 10 noontime show, OUR BLUE RIDGE. See video footage of his gorgeous farm, and his thoughtful comments.

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/apr/21/border-springs-farm-ar-987529/

RECIPES

A food writer told me recently that Craig loves to cook as much as he does raising his lamb and training his dogs. And it's true, he says with a laugh. He shared recipes for lamb burgers and lamb meatloaf that are just dynamite in THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK.

At the bottom of the taping below, you'll find his recipe for his version of rack of lamb, as well as mine. Craig sears his rack, then finishes it by roasting in the oven.

Watch me on the same segment of OUR BLUE RIDGE showing how to execute Craig's recipe.

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/apr/21/rack-lamb-elizabeth-wiegand-ar-987517/

GRILLING A RACK OF LAMB

Here's our favorite way of preparing a rack of lamb, by grilling. First, the meaty part is rubbed with olive oil, then coated with chopped herbs and garlic, and set aside to marinate before grilling. RECIPE FOLLOWS!

GRILLED RACK OF LAMB

© Elizabeth Wiegand, author THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK

1 rack of lamb, 8 frenched ribs

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or oregano

1 to 2 tablespoons minced garlic, or to taste

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

aluminum foil

1. Preheat charcoal or gas grill.

2. Coat lamb with olive oil.

3. Mix herbs and garlic together on a cutting board or plate, then press both sides of the lamb rack in the mixture.

4. Cut small squares of aluminum foil, and wrap the end of each exposed bone to prevent charring.

5. Let lamb sit at room temperature for about an hour, or marinate in herb mixture in the refrigerator for up to six hours.

6. Place lamb on grill, fat side down, and cook until nicely browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Watch for fat flare-ups. Turn and cook until a thermometer reads about 130 for medium rare (the best temp for lamb!), for another 8 to 10 minutes.

7. Remove lamb from grill and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Slice between the bones, and serve.

YIELD: 4 servings (2 slices each)

RAMPS!

THE HUNT STARTED WITH MORELS . . .

We were looking for morels. I'm sure I should look for "morals," too, but last week when Alan Muskat lead another couple and I out into the woods near Barnardsville, he thought we just might find this coveted gastronomic treat, even though it was a bit early in the season for them.

As soon as we got out of his car at his friend's farm, he gave us a challenge: Find a mushroom. Alan is known as Asheville's Mushroom Man, the one who forages for chicken-in-the-woods, lobster mushrooms, morels and other gourmet treats for local chefs, and leads folks on mushroom hunts along the Blue Ridge.

And that's when I discovered how hidden and camouflaged wild mushrooms can be. If they had been a snake, I'd been bitten. Brown, floppy fungi, about ten in all, were just up under our noses and I must admit I don't remember their names. But he placed them in his basket along with some creasy greens and dandelion leaves, to add to his own sauteed dinner, foraged for "free" out in the wilds, as per his usual.

We trudged up a steep driveway to a house that he once lived in. It's being torn down now, its gardens abandoned, with no one to appreciate the bright yellow sundrop blooms. And that's when one of us spotted the gray morel nestled among fall's leftover leaves. Note "the." For that was the last of morels we were to see, despite our hopes.

A gray morel, one of three varieties found in the Blue Ridge

Alan led us up steep ridges and down to a valley floor where it took little to imagine that's where the early Native Americans would have camped, right beside the knobby tree that signaled the headwaters of a prominent creek. No morels, but we found acorns to taste, a spice berry tree just leafing out, and more cressie greens along a tiny stream. All of which we tasted. And that was my biggest "take-away" from this outing, that there are lot of things that grow wild that are there for the eating - IF you know what's what, and what's toxic.

Completing the seemingly miles-long hike up and down steep hills, we came upon the backside of the farm's livestock barn. As we stood talking, someone pointed at a "stand" of bright green across the hillside. We sauntered over. Were they daylilies left from someone's forgotten garden? Or better yet, were they ramps, that odiferous but tasty springtime treat?

Either way, Alan would eat them. Daylilies are delicious chopped and sauteed, he says. And if they were ramps, well, we had hit a motherlode, as there were several large gatherings of greens spread among the bare trees.

The beautiful dark green leaves of ramps remind you that they are a member of the lily family. Chewing on one, I could definitely taste the oniony-garlicky flavor that is unique to ramps. I laughed, remembering when one old mountain fellow told me that he had been sent home from school because of his highly odiferous breath after finding and eating a "bait" of ramps.

We had only knives with us, so with no way to dig up the bulbs, we could only harvest the leaves and stems down into the moist, loamy earth. And that's just as well. Ramps are being somewhat depleted from their natural growing habitats, so it's recommended that just the leaves be harvested, or in the very least to only take a few of the bulbs to ensure future growth.

Kneeling on the soft earth, carefully harvesting the pungent leaves, was a rather sensuous experience, one that I know has been repeated through the ages. I felt encased within that "circle of life," gathering food out in the wild. Alan just shook his head. It's just there for the taking, and it's his mission to educate the rest of us.

Alan Muskat, Asheville's Mushroom Man, harvesting wild ramps

WHAT TO DO WITH RAMPS

I doubled bagged those leaves before putting them into my ice chest. I had a few days left before getting home, and didn't want to stink up the car, as I had once when given a few ramp bulbs.

So what to do with my ramps?

We had some leftover cooked potatoes, so I chopped up a few of the whole leaves and stems, and added them to the potatoes while they were being sauteed in olive oil. I replaced onions and garlic with the ramps while making shrimp and grits. We coated some leaves with olive oil, then placed them on the grill with a rack of lamb. My grillmeister misunderstood and they became charred but still tasty as a bed for the lamb.

RECIPE

And there's a great recipe for Rampalicious Chicken Soup in my book, THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, which you will find below. Can't get ramps? Then substitute those strong smelling green onions you'll find at the farmers market during the spring and early summer. It's a bit involved, but we love this hearty soup.

RAMPALICIOUS CHICKEN SOUP from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2010.

Hearty, spicy, and soul-satisfying, this chicken soup could almost be called a chili. It’s delicious, even without the ramps.

Strong-smelling and wild, ramps are dug from mountain coves during the early spring. A “bait” of them are sold at farmers markets or shared with neighbors. If ramps are not available, substitute spring onions, or just yellow onions with an especially strong taste. Palette Butler serves this soup for the lunch crowd at Veranda Café & Gifts, co-owned with husband Jeff in Black Mountain, NC.

1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds

1 or 2 bay leaves

12 black peppercorns

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup chopped yellow onion

2 15-ounce can red kidney beans

28-ounce cans diced tomatoes

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1 15-ounce can beef broth

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

2 to 6 whole ramps (to taste), leaves and bulbs chopped

1 large sweet onion, chopped

½ to one 4-ounce can chopped green chilies, to taste

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder (or more, to taste)

1/8 to ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)

1 ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Place chicken in a stockpot with the peppercorns, carrots and yellow onion. Barely cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Skim off any foam. Cook the chicken for at least 45 minutes to an hour, or until the chicken is cooked through and fork tender.

2. Remove the chicken from the pot. Using a fork and sharp knife, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss the bones and cartilege. Strain the broth from the stockpot and reserve.

3. Add the shredded chicken back to the stockpot. Add kidney beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, garlic, ramps, onion and green chilies. Add enough reserved chicken broth for desired consistency, about 4 to 6 cups. Stir in oregano, cumin. chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper.

4. Simmer for at least one hour or more to allow flavors to meld and onions to soften.

NOTE: Freeze any leftover stock for use later.

YIELD: 8 to 10 large servings

SPRING GREENS, FETA & PASTA

Rainbow Chard

Spring is my favorite time of year. Not only for the yellow and pink blossoms that erupt from leafless trees and as daffodils, but also for the GREENS from the garden. And now, thanks to hoop houses and growing tunnels, mustard greens, Tuscan kale, curly kale and the above Rainbow Chard hit the markets even earlier.

At Tumbling Shoals Farm, in NC's northwestern corner, Shiloh and partner Jason grow a smorgasbord of terrific veggies. Former Peace Corps workers, they came home and apprenticed with an organic grower in the Triangle area, took some classes in sustainable farming, then found their mountain farm to pour their hearts and souls into.

Last summer during the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture's farm tour, I saw tomatoes in hoop houses, rain gutters adapted as a growing place for starting seeds, and the elaborate schedule used to rotate crops.

Shiloh is a great cook, and I was so happy that she shared this recipe with me. It's become one of my favorite "meatless meals." I just love the slightly bitter flavor of the chard with the tang of the feta and the flavor of the spinach pasta. And it's quick and easy! Try the recipe that follows.......

And, watch my latest appearance on Roanoke's WSLS10's OUR BLUE RIDGE, where I make this dish with co-host Natalie:

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/mar/25/spring-greens-and-pasta-elizabeth-wiegand-ar-927660/

Here's the RECIPE:

SPRING GREENS FARMERS MARKET SUPPER

from THE NEW BLUE RIDGE COOKBOOK, by Elizabeth Wiegand, Globe Pequot Press, 2010

At the Watauga Farmers Market, Shiloh Avery and Jason Roehrig of Tumbling Shoals Farm, sell chemical-free strawberries, lacinato kale, rainbow chard, escarole, endive, arugula, and lots of other spring greens. They recommend procuring the rest of the ingredients at the market, also.

1 package spinach linguine or other fresh pasta

one bunch (4 to 6 cups) chopped rainbow chard or other spring green

4 tablespoons olive oil, plus a splash

2 bunches chopped green onions

salt to taste

5 ounces feta cheese

freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water with a splash of olive oil. If pasta is fresh, be careful not to overcook.)

2. Meanwhile, separate the stems from the chard leaves. Coarsely chop the stems, then roll the leaves together and coarsely chop.

3. Heat the 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy skillet. Saute the onion and chard stems (not greens) in the oil for about six minutes.

4. Add the chard greens and salt. Cook until wilted.

5. Add the feta cheese and pasta and continue cooking for another minute, until feta begins to melt. Add ground black pepper and serve.

SERVES 3 to 4