Spring flings

Seeing more shoots and greens at the markets and wondering what to do with them? I asked Molly Hawks of Hawks restaurant how she’s preparing the more unusual spring produce:

“We just brought in nettles. It’s so funny, because nettles are essentially a weed, but they’re really expensive right now—but beautiful. You have to be careful handling them—they have little prickers and have to be cooked to get rid of the toxins. We purée them with a garlic cream and serve with a rib-eye steak. They have a nice kind of earthiness.

“The fava beans aren’t too far off—we love to make a fava bean guacamole or favetta. We blanch the favas and mash them up with garlic, lemon zest and olive oil.

“We have a rhubarb sorbet on our menu right now; it’s a fun way to use the rhubarb we’re seeing.

“We also use fava greens the same way we’d use pea tendrils or shoots—lightly sauté them. We like to use them as a little accent when we’re using fava beans. It’s nice for people to see the connection.”