North Bay Chefs Celebrate Spring

CHEF KYLE SWAIN WATERSHED, MILL VALLEY

I particularly enjoy the cleansing aspect of spring ingredients,” says Chef Kyle Swain. “Coming out of winter with its fortifying and enriching food, the spring repertoire feels like a tonic.” Swain builds flavor with the season’s riches: Spicy radishes and roots, bitter greens such as dandelion and young chicories, foraged nettles and wild greens all find a place on his spring menu, something Swain refers to less as a plan and more of a process the team adheres to all year. Swain’s recipe is a new salad planned for lunch service at Watershed in Mill Valley’s Lumber Yard. His play on a Niçoise salad you might find at peak summer features the ingredients of early spring. McFarland Springs trout replaces tuna, asparagus from Fiddler’s Green Farm replaces green beans, and winter’s preserved Meyer lemon makes its way into the aioli. (Potatoes are eternal.) An herb salad of bitter friseé mixed with chives, pea shoots, nasturtium and miner’s lettuce, much of it sourced from Marin Roots or while out hiking in Marin, takes the place of arugula. Swain insists that all ingredients can be found at local farmers’ markets (he frequents the Sunday market in San Rafael). Dressed with a simple citrus vinaigrette, “it’s a great salad to celebrate spring,” he says.

CHEF CARY DELBRIDGE BRIX, NAPA

Executive Chef Cary Delbridge’s asparagus salad is one of many signature dishes at Brix. Like the spring vegetable gnocchi with prosciutto cream or gumbo or spring lamb that appear on the menu with the warmer breezes, it is a seasonal dish that expresses the restaurant as much as the season. Though the asparagus comes from a bit farther east in the Sacramento Delta, it is the dish’s focus. “My approach is: keep it simple,” Delbridge says. “Don’t mess with ingredients too much.” That includes the asparagus. Delbridge peels then shaves them before briefly shocking them in ice water. “Ice ice ice water,” he says, “for 15 seconds.” The asparagus’s quick bath builds crispness without leaching flavor into the water. Knowing that local flavors naturally complement each other, Chef turns to the Brix garden to add unique touches—a Purple Ninja radish or a Thumbelina carrot—or sources them from Orozco Farms at the Napa Farmers’ Market. “I try to find ways to play off flavor and not overshadow the asparagus,” he says.

CHEF JAMMIR GRAY COMPLINE, NAPA

Spring really is a lively yet gentle season,” says Compline Executive Chef Jammir Gray. Produce tends towards baby versions, winter’s stiff greens transition to something softer, and new shoots and mushrooms are in abundance. Gray leans into spring’s tenderness, creating dishes that express the season’s gentler aspects. For this dish featuring grilled lamb loin chops, Gray sources lamb from Marin’s Kaos Sheep Outfit, which focuses on climate-benefitting-conscious agriculture. While the accompanying kohlrabi pureée (sourced from Star Route Farms) hearkens back to winter’s chill, Gray encourages home cooks to bring some of spring’s fresh flavors to the dish by adding whatever vegetables are freshest at their local markets to the dish. That might mean fiddlehead ferns from Wine Forest Foods in Napa or sugar snap peas from Full Belly Farm. “Use this dish as your excuse to try different types of spring vegetables you have not tried before,” she nudges. If the tiny fiddlehead window of availability has already passed, Gray suggests morel mushrooms, asparagus, or green garlic. “I always find a way to put English peas and green garlic on the spring menu,” she says.

CHEF FRANCISCO LOPEZ JR. LAYLA AT MACARTHUR PLACE, SONOMA

Building a career by cooking for Wine Country luminary chefs like Perry Hoffman, Bryan Moscatello, Thomas Keller and Charlie Palmer taught Chef Francisco Lopez Jr. a little something about the importance of excellent ingredients. Lopez Jr., who was executive chef at Charlie Palmer’s Steak Napa before helming the stoves at Layla, the restaurant at Sonoma’s MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa, looks forward to spring when fava beans, rapini and spring greens are in abundance. “I’m looking towards a fresh approach for our spring menu,” he says. “We will be curating dishes that feature seafood, earthy pastas and bountiful salads.” His seared scallops with spring vegetables honors that focus on green, utilizing minimal cooking techniques to create maximum flavor. “It’s one of my favorite springtime dishes,” Chef says, highlighting the terroir of Marin-Sonoma Produce’s peas and morels and scallops sourced from Maine by Kanaloa Seafood Market in Santa Barbara.

CHEF JENNIFER MCMURRY BLOOM CARNEROS, SONOMA

Chef Jennifer McMurry, a Sonoma County native, is a strong believer in cooking with seasonal ingredients. McMurry’s menus are in tune with each season, shifting to highlight the best of local growers like Forni Farm, Full Belly Farm and FEED Sonoma small-farm cooperative. McMurry’s weekly visits to the Thursday Marin Farmers’ Market are both a business necessity and an inspiration to craft dishes that speak to the season’s precise moment. A twist on the Italian classic rice-and-cheese ball, the Carrot Arancini dish that makes regular appearances on the spring menu is a favorite of hers. “It represents the best of what spring has to offer,” McMurry says. Nante carrots, sugar snap peas and nasturtiums are 100% spring while touches of miso and pickled carrots add cheffy touches. McMurry admits there are a lot of steps to her version. The recipe can be simplified by focusing on the risotto and arancini. “Or you can go wild and do all the things!” she says.

A few tips before you get started: Regular rice won’t cut it; stick to carnaroli rice for best results! If you are able to make the carrot purée and risotto a few hours ahead of time, or even the day before, this will work in your favor as it can be refrigerated so that it sticks together more easily. While arancini are best enjoyed fresh, you can refrigerate them for up to 3 days, then reheat in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes.