Celebrating Spring with Vegetables

Spring’s finally here! Let’s celebrate with some creative spring vegetable meals. If you’re a forager, that’s all the better – as my daughter pointed out to me when she spotted some wild garlic and wild greens in my yard. It’s also a time to regularly visit your local farmer’s market to find out what’s available. Be sure to ask, because some hard-to-obtain items such as ramps get swooped up as soon as they appear on the shelves.

Greens and new potatoes

The next six to eight weeks are a time when we can move from the heavy winter vegetables to lighter fare. This is an opportunity to experiment with new approaches to meals with interesting ingredients such as ramps, fiddleheads, spring onions, or new potatoes. Take the new potatoes, which are subtle and tender little nuggets of flavor. Don’t just resort to the old standby potato salad with mayo and celery and hard-boiled eggs. You can take a lighter approach with steamed green beans or asparagus with a garlic and parsley sauce, or new potatoes with chanterelles or another spring mushroom or even new potatoes with anchovy and chive cream.

You get the idea. You may find that you’re visiting the farm store more than once a week just to pick up new ingredients for the supporting cast for your meal. It’s important that you use these spring vegie treats quickly after purchase as they’re at peak flavor right after they’re picked.

Asparagus, peas, and radishes

Of course, there’s everyone’s favorite spring vegetable: asparagus. You probably have your own favorite recipes for it – say, a quiche. But how about an asparagus tart or asparagus risotto? Many of my friends have discovered combo grain and vegetable dishes. How about quinoa or farro with roast asparagus, eggs, and capers?

My favorite spring vegetable is probably peas. I love both regular green peas as well as snap peas at this time of year. How about a sugar snap pea salad? Let’s not forget the lowly radish. Here’s a recipe for radish salad with mint and pistachios.

Pasta primavera!

And these spring delights don’t need to be solitary in a dish. The Italians, who were masters at using local fresh vegetables, have pasta primavera, which features all sorts of springtime treats – asparagus, peas, fava beans, and broccolini, not to mention fresh spring basil.

After a long, tough winter, those of us in the northern climes are ready for spring and, with it, some lighter meals. So go out and see what you can find, then let us know what you ate as a result.