Spring has Sprung!
By Alice Osborne
Celebrate with Recipes using Garden-Fresh Veggies!
We’ve waited all winter for not just the signs of spring, but also the foods of spring. So hooray for fresh, seasonal produce — it’s finally starting to show up in our grocery stores and in a few weeks will be showing up in our backyard gardens!
My aunt Annie used to have a “Spring has Sprung!” party about the third week of April, to celebrate the hope and joy that spring brings, and one dish she always served was her famous Creamed Peas and New Potatoes (all key ingredients coming straight from her garden). She was one of those amazing gardeners that would have her peas and spuds planted by early March.
She knew just how to coax them into being and very seldom missed her April harvesting date.
Since those days, I’ve collected not just Aunt Annie’s springtime recipes, but others as well. I now have a good arsenal of pea, new potato, and even radish recipes (they can do much more than just jazz up a tossed salad).
So here I share a few, and hope you’ll enjoy starting off your spring season with these crisp recipes inspired by the best seasonal ingredients. Meanwhile, it’s time to starting planning my own “Spring has Sprung” party!
Creamed Peas and New Potatoes
4 medium red potatoes, cubed
2-3 C fresh garden peas
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 1/2 cups milk or cream
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
Place potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water and cook until tender. Cook peas according to package directions. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan; add flour, salt and pepper to form a paste; add garlic. Gradually stir in milk or cream. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Add dill; cook until thickened and bubbly. Drain potatoes and peas; place in a serving bowl. Pour sauce over and stir to coat. Serve immediately.
Creamy Corn with Sugar Snap Peas and Scallions
This was a family favorite of ours — pulled out to use up any leftover corn that we froze from last season.
3 lb sugar snap peas, trimmed
5 - 6 C corn kernels
1 C. heavy cream
2 bunches scallions (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1 Tbs. black pepper
Cook sugar snaps in 6 batches in an 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 1 minute (return to a boil between batches). Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking. Drain sugar snaps and pat dry with paper towels. Cook corn. Boil cream and scallions in a wide 6- to 8-quart heavy pot over high heat until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Add sugar snaps, corn, salt, and pepper and cook, tossing, until vegetables are coated and heated through, about 2 minutes.
Spring Vegetable Soup
This light soup is laden with nutrient-dense root vegetables like potatoes (vitamin C), carrots (beta-carotene) and onions (chromium, which helps maintain blood sugar levels). In the summer, puree the soup and serve it chilled with the freshest herbs you can find
7 cups water
10 small red potatoes, quartered
2 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 celery ribs, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 large leek, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 pound green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths, or frozen peas
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
Freshly ground pepper
In a large pot, combine the water with the red potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and leek. Bring to a boil. Add the salt and simmer over moderately low heat for 30 minutes. Add the green beans and simmer until tender, 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and tarragon. Season with pepper and serve.
New Potato, Fennel, and Radish Salad
2 fennel bulbs
1 bunch radishes
1 lb. new potatoes, washed not peeled
4 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons, juice only
sea salt and ground black pepper
Wash the fennel, remove the stalks and outer leaves and slice the bulb in half then slice thinly. Roughly chop the fennel leaves. Wash the radishes and remove the leaves. Thinly slice each radish. Mix together the olive oil and lemon juice. Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes until tender, drain, shred, then mix with the fennel and radish and dressing
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