Tag Archives: spring recipe

This Season’s Asparagus and Spring Allium Strata

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Cheesy asparagus strata with a bevy of spring onions and spring garlic.
Cheesy asparagus strata with a bevy of spring onions and spring garlic.

“Asparagus and Spring Allium Strata” combines my three most favorite spring ingredients:

Green garlic or young garlic with their Fabio-like, long, flowing green tops, no papery skins, and a fresher, sweeter flavor.

Spring onions or immature onions with their small, compact, and tender bulbs that boast a milder flavor.

And of course, asparagus. When I can find them, I always go for the thick stalks because they cook up more tender with a more robust taste, too.

If you’re new to stratas, just think of them as a savory bread pudding — perfect for brunch, lunch or dinner. It’s just toasted or day-old bread saturated with an eggy custard mixture much like making French toast, then layered in a baking dish with vegetables, cheese and other ingredients.

This delicious version is from “The Vegetable Eater” (Workman Publishing), of which I received a review copy. It was written by Cara Mangini, a San Francisco chef and creator of Little Eater, a produce-inspired company that offers catering and weekly meal-service delivery, and opened a number of locally sourced restaurants in Columbus, OH. She was named one of the top 50 plant-forward chefs in the world by the Culinary Institute of America and the EAT foundation.

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Simmered Asparagus with Orange and Mint

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A classy little asparagus dish that requires barely any time at all.
A classy little asparagus dish that requires barely any time at all.

My favorite way to enjoy asparagus is grilled. The high heat brings out the natural sweetness of the spears, while the lick of smoke makes anything tastier.

But now and again, it’s nice to swap primal and rustic for elegant and lady-like.

That’s where “Simmered Asparagus with Orange and Mint” comes in.

It’s much like glazed carrots — pan-simmered with a little water and aromatics until the liquid evaporates and turns to steam, leaving behind perfectly tender spears coated with deliciousness.

The recipe is from “All About Dinner: Simple Meals, Expert Advice” (W.W. Norton, 2019), of which I received a review copy. It’s by award-winning cooking instructor, cookbook author, and recipe developer Molly Stevens.

It’s one of 150 recipes in this indispensable book that offers up approachable and thoughtful dishes for home-cooks that make use of vegetables, grains, meats, fish, and sweets.

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Oh, Snap — As In Peas

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You won't want to cook sugar snap peas any other way after this.
You won’t want to cook sugar snap peas any other way after this.

Sweet — and yes — snappy, sugar snap peas don’t need much to enjoy fully.

In fact, just the opposite is true — we often do too much to them or overcook them so their delightful crispness is obliterated. As simple as they are to prepare, they can be tricky to get just right. A few seconds too long in a steamer, saute pan or boiling pot of water, and they turn wrinkly and mushy.

That’s why I practically leaped for joy after making “Sugar Snap Peas with Pine Nuts, Fennel, and Lemon Zest” from “The Side Dish Bible: 1001 Perfect Recipes for Every Vegetable, Rice, Grain, and Bean Dish You Will Ever Need” (2019), of which I received a review copy.

This tome of spectacular side dishes is by America’s Test Kitchen, where proper technique rules.

This easy side dish recipe gets snap peas perfectly. The key is cutting the snap peas in half — something I admit I’d never done before. Usually, I just stir-fry them whole.

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Asparagus in Coconut Cream Sauce

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Enjoy asparagus in a velvety coconut sauce with lemongrass and garlic.

Enjoy asparagus in a velvety coconut sauce with lemongrass and garlic.

 

The countdown is upon us for the impending end of asparagus season.

Sigh.

So there’s no time like now to make this super easy asparagus dish.

“Asparagus in Coconut Cream Sauce” is from the new “Farm to Table Asian Secrets: Vegan & Vegetarian Full-Flavored Recipes for Every Season” (Tuttle), of which I received a review copy. It’s by food writer Patricia Tanumihardja, who was born in Indonesia and lived in Singapore before moving to the United States.

The book is full of inspired recipes that showcase the bounty available each season at the market. Try your hand at everything from “Vegetable Soup with Rhubarb” to “Vietnamese  Noodle Salad Bowls” to Tofu, Spinach and Fennel Wontons.” There’s also a helpful guide (with photos) about Asian herbs and pantry ingredients that will aid you in finding them at an Asian or international market.

FarmToTableAsianSecrets

Asparagus spears are simmered in a sauce of coconut milk, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, and chili paste. It’s seasoned with a dash of soy sauce, but fish sauce would also work. As the sauce cooks, it thickens to coat the asparagus spears. Velvety, citrusy and just a little spicy, it’s made for spooning over a mound of fluffy steamed rice.

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First Day of Spring Means Asparagus

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Weeknight dinners were never so easy and tasty as this.

Weeknight dinners were never so easy and tasty as this.

 

I get giddy for asparagus in spring.

There are many things I look forward to with each season, but there is something special about asparagus because its local season is so short. Because of that, I gorge myself on the spears until they disappear all too quickly from the markets. I always hunt down the really fat ones if possible, too, because I think they taste sweeter.

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