I want to TASTE Spring
April 9, 2024 8:39 AM Subscribe
Today is the first real in-your-face Spring day (hello from Chicago!) and I realized that, while I can see Spring in the new growth, hear Spring through the birds singing, feel Spring in the sun on my face, and smell Spring in the flowers, I don't have a clue what would classify as tasting Spring. What foods, drinks, recipes, etc. taste like Spring to you? Why?
Asparagus, rhubarb, and fiddleheads are all spring foods. Also chives!
posted by heatherlogan at 8:52 AM on April 9 [15 favorites]
posted by heatherlogan at 8:52 AM on April 9 [15 favorites]
Asparagus, peas (fresh green peas, snap peas, even pea greens), delicate lettuces, baby radishes. I love roasted asparagus but for true spring, I think of it lightly steamed instead. Something like this Spring Gem Salad.
posted by beyond_pink at 8:53 AM on April 9 [8 favorites]
posted by beyond_pink at 8:53 AM on April 9 [8 favorites]
Asparagus, definitely; also anything strawberry-rhubarb!
posted by sencha at 8:54 AM on April 9 [7 favorites]
posted by sencha at 8:54 AM on April 9 [7 favorites]
Since you are from Chicago, it might not feel like a spring food to you, but a good Chicago-style hot dog, eaten outdoors says the first warm day of spring to me. Extra points if you can eat it at Wrigley.
posted by briank at 9:04 AM on April 9 [8 favorites]
posted by briank at 9:04 AM on April 9 [8 favorites]
Coming here to say fresh peas, of any type. Greens and herbs, so something like a pasta primavera. Asparagus with parmesan and lemon. Ramps, or green onions, chives.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 9:09 AM on April 9 [8 favorites]
posted by Sparky Buttons at 9:09 AM on April 9 [8 favorites]
I know we're all repeating ourselves, but asparagus, green onions, peas — fresh crunchy green things in general!
two recipes I love that really shout "SPRING!" to me: greenest green salad and spring tabbouleh
posted by sparkling at 9:24 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
two recipes I love that really shout "SPRING!" to me: greenest green salad and spring tabbouleh
posted by sparkling at 9:24 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
Strawberries for breakfast and rosemary for seasoning, both from my garden, speak to me of Spring.
posted by SPrintF at 9:32 AM on April 9 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 9:32 AM on April 9 [3 favorites]
Ramps!
posted by genmonster at 9:35 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
posted by genmonster at 9:35 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
Spring lettuce salad with very little dressing.
Fresh vegetarian sushi.
Asparagus
St. Basil Soup (mushroom/chive base with lots of chervil or parsley)
posted by amtho at 9:42 AM on April 9 [1 favorite]
Fresh vegetarian sushi.
Asparagus
St. Basil Soup (mushroom/chive base with lots of chervil or parsley)
posted by amtho at 9:42 AM on April 9 [1 favorite]
Down here in Florida it's mulberries. No idea if they're budding up there for y'all yet but I can't imagine it'll be too much longer until they do.
posted by saladin at 9:53 AM on April 9
posted by saladin at 9:53 AM on April 9
Baby spinach, usually in a salad. Weirdly, overwintered spinach too, but I usually cook that into something.
posted by humbug at 9:56 AM on April 9
posted by humbug at 9:56 AM on April 9
The sharp sour tangy taste of sorrel, growing as a weed in the yard, either wood sorrel or sheep sorrel, just a taste of one leaf for the oxalic acid flavor, not some classic French sorrel soup that probably promotes kidney stones.
posted by metonym at 9:56 AM on April 9 [2 favorites]
posted by metonym at 9:56 AM on April 9 [2 favorites]
Strawberries, though I live in a place where Peak Strawberry is definitely early-mid May. Asparagus. Juleps. Spring greens with chevre. Chilled cucumber soup with lots of dill.
posted by thivaia at 10:09 AM on April 9
posted by thivaia at 10:09 AM on April 9
Arugula, it was all over the back yard in 2020 and has self-seeded since
posted by olopua at 10:11 AM on April 9
posted by olopua at 10:11 AM on April 9
We call this “lemony vegetable pasta thing” and there are two versions. One is WAY more annoying to make but much tastier, and the other is just a straightforward way to make what you might call pasta primavera. The more annoying version is the one that tastes like spring.
You need:
Dried cut pasta in a shape that has some curl or cup to it so it can scoop bits of vegetables, preferably campanelle
Asparagus
Frozen peas or for the truly unhinged cook shelled English peas, only when absolutely fresh and in season
Leeks
Garlic
Carrot
Celery
Zest and juice of a lemon
Fresh mint, parsley, and chives
White wine
Two kinds of olive oil - one that’s good for higher heat and cooking with, and one really flavorful fancy grassy one for finishing
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Chili flakes
First trim the asparagus, snap off the tough stems and reserve and cut the rest into inch long pieces. Cut the leeks in half lengthwise leaving the roots together and wash them vigorously, including the dark green tops. Cut off the root end, reserve the tops in large chunks, and cut the light part of the leeks into slices. Smash a handful of garlic cloves and keep the skins to the side, slide about half and mince or crush the other half of the garlic. Zest the whole lemon, mix that with the minced garlic, and juice the fruit, setting it aside. Mince the mint, parsley, and chives and mix with the garlic and lemon zest, and mix that with some salt and the really good fancy olive oil to make a twist on a gremolata and leave that to commingle to the side.
Peel the carrot and trim the celery, you only need a little of each because you are making a vegetable stock from scratch. This stock and the gremolata are the key to making this taste of spring and also making it annoying to cook! In the stock pot goes: carrot, celery, green leek tops, garlic skins, asparagus bottoms. Add some whole peppercorns if you have them or ground if not, salt, and water to cover. Bring to a full boil and simmer everything for at least twenty minutes, but you don’t need to do much longer because veggie stock comes together fast unlike an animal based stock. Strain the whole thing into a measuring cup and set aside for now.
What ensues is the risotto method of cooking pasta. Pour your veggie stock back into your rinsed pot and heat it back up to barely simmering, have a ladle ready. Get your wine bottle open. Have the lemon juice ready.
Okay next step, you need your biggest pan. Absolutely coat the bottom of it with your cooking olive oil, and heat it through. You want the oil hot but not insanely blistering. Then add your dry pasta and, stirring constantly, toast it. The edges will start to turn white, you want to go a tiny bit past that and get a little browning but nothing darker or the burned taste will throw off the dish. You want a single layer of toasted pasta if you can. If the pan isn’t big enough, toast it in batches. Add salt once the pasta starts to have white spots, make sure everything is evenly coated.
Then add enough white wine to coat the bottom of the pan and come a bit up the height of the pasta, it is going to sizzle! Keep the pasta moving to avoid burning and let the wine completely cook down. Add a few ladles of veggie stock, again stirring occasionally, letting the stock boil away and get absorbed by the pasta. Add the lemon juice and more wine, cook and absorb. Repeat, alternating stock and wine, until the pasta is about 2/3rds cooked. Taste a piece, it should have some chew in the middle but be flexible and not crunchy, and cooked at the extremities.
Scoop the whole pasta mess out into a big bowl and add some more olive oil to the pan. Add the leeks, salt and pepper, and let those soften and just begin to brown on medium heat. Make a little hollow in the hottest part of the pan and add an extra blob of oil and wait for it to get shimmery, add your chili flake and sliced garlic. Let those fry and get really fragrant before stirring into the leeks. Add the asparagus and cook briefly, they just need to get coated in the flavored oil more than anything since they will cook through in the next step.
Add the pasta back into the pan and stir to combine. Add about half a cup of salted water or ideally any remaining vegetable stock. Cover and let everything make friends for a few minutes. Once the pasta and asparagus are cooked to your liking, uncover and add your peas. Turn off the heat. Stir in a ton of grated parmesan, which should mix with the starch in the pan, the oil and any liquids to coat the pasta in a nice glossy way. Then, key, mix in your gremolata. Lemon zest garlic parsley mint and chives and the really good olive oil should cling to everything nicely with the parmesan to help bind it. The peas just need to heat through, don’t worry about cooking them.
The lazy version of the recipe is: prep the asparagus and leeks, set aside some peas. Zest and juice a lemon, mince some garlic. Toast the pasta and add a couple cups of pantry veggie stock, one of those mini bottles of white wine, lemon juice and some of the garlic, and cover to cook and absorb the liquid, shaking the pan occasionally. Scoop out the pasta, cook the leeks and asparagus with garlic and chili flakes, add the pasta back in, add some extra water to let everything finish cooking, turn off the heat, add peas and parmesan and whatever fresh herbs you have laying around, plus lemon zest and some more olive oil. Sub whatever vegetables need using up.
posted by Mizu at 10:27 AM on April 9 [5 favorites]
You need:
Dried cut pasta in a shape that has some curl or cup to it so it can scoop bits of vegetables, preferably campanelle
Asparagus
Frozen peas or for the truly unhinged cook shelled English peas, only when absolutely fresh and in season
Leeks
Garlic
Carrot
Celery
Zest and juice of a lemon
Fresh mint, parsley, and chives
White wine
Two kinds of olive oil - one that’s good for higher heat and cooking with, and one really flavorful fancy grassy one for finishing
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Chili flakes
First trim the asparagus, snap off the tough stems and reserve and cut the rest into inch long pieces. Cut the leeks in half lengthwise leaving the roots together and wash them vigorously, including the dark green tops. Cut off the root end, reserve the tops in large chunks, and cut the light part of the leeks into slices. Smash a handful of garlic cloves and keep the skins to the side, slide about half and mince or crush the other half of the garlic. Zest the whole lemon, mix that with the minced garlic, and juice the fruit, setting it aside. Mince the mint, parsley, and chives and mix with the garlic and lemon zest, and mix that with some salt and the really good fancy olive oil to make a twist on a gremolata and leave that to commingle to the side.
Peel the carrot and trim the celery, you only need a little of each because you are making a vegetable stock from scratch. This stock and the gremolata are the key to making this taste of spring and also making it annoying to cook! In the stock pot goes: carrot, celery, green leek tops, garlic skins, asparagus bottoms. Add some whole peppercorns if you have them or ground if not, salt, and water to cover. Bring to a full boil and simmer everything for at least twenty minutes, but you don’t need to do much longer because veggie stock comes together fast unlike an animal based stock. Strain the whole thing into a measuring cup and set aside for now.
What ensues is the risotto method of cooking pasta. Pour your veggie stock back into your rinsed pot and heat it back up to barely simmering, have a ladle ready. Get your wine bottle open. Have the lemon juice ready.
Okay next step, you need your biggest pan. Absolutely coat the bottom of it with your cooking olive oil, and heat it through. You want the oil hot but not insanely blistering. Then add your dry pasta and, stirring constantly, toast it. The edges will start to turn white, you want to go a tiny bit past that and get a little browning but nothing darker or the burned taste will throw off the dish. You want a single layer of toasted pasta if you can. If the pan isn’t big enough, toast it in batches. Add salt once the pasta starts to have white spots, make sure everything is evenly coated.
Then add enough white wine to coat the bottom of the pan and come a bit up the height of the pasta, it is going to sizzle! Keep the pasta moving to avoid burning and let the wine completely cook down. Add a few ladles of veggie stock, again stirring occasionally, letting the stock boil away and get absorbed by the pasta. Add the lemon juice and more wine, cook and absorb. Repeat, alternating stock and wine, until the pasta is about 2/3rds cooked. Taste a piece, it should have some chew in the middle but be flexible and not crunchy, and cooked at the extremities.
Scoop the whole pasta mess out into a big bowl and add some more olive oil to the pan. Add the leeks, salt and pepper, and let those soften and just begin to brown on medium heat. Make a little hollow in the hottest part of the pan and add an extra blob of oil and wait for it to get shimmery, add your chili flake and sliced garlic. Let those fry and get really fragrant before stirring into the leeks. Add the asparagus and cook briefly, they just need to get coated in the flavored oil more than anything since they will cook through in the next step.
Add the pasta back into the pan and stir to combine. Add about half a cup of salted water or ideally any remaining vegetable stock. Cover and let everything make friends for a few minutes. Once the pasta and asparagus are cooked to your liking, uncover and add your peas. Turn off the heat. Stir in a ton of grated parmesan, which should mix with the starch in the pan, the oil and any liquids to coat the pasta in a nice glossy way. Then, key, mix in your gremolata. Lemon zest garlic parsley mint and chives and the really good olive oil should cling to everything nicely with the parmesan to help bind it. The peas just need to heat through, don’t worry about cooking them.
The lazy version of the recipe is: prep the asparagus and leeks, set aside some peas. Zest and juice a lemon, mince some garlic. Toast the pasta and add a couple cups of pantry veggie stock, one of those mini bottles of white wine, lemon juice and some of the garlic, and cover to cook and absorb the liquid, shaking the pan occasionally. Scoop out the pasta, cook the leeks and asparagus with garlic and chili flakes, add the pasta back in, add some extra water to let everything finish cooking, turn off the heat, add peas and parmesan and whatever fresh herbs you have laying around, plus lemon zest and some more olive oil. Sub whatever vegetables need using up.
posted by Mizu at 10:27 AM on April 9 [5 favorites]
No one has mentioned maple syrup? Here in Vermont, that's the first taste of spring.
posted by Redstart at 10:42 AM on April 9 [6 favorites]
posted by Redstart at 10:42 AM on April 9 [6 favorites]
Extremely polarizing, but for me: violet flavors, such as Leone pastilles or the violet-lemony L’Ami Provencale candies. Runner up for Les Anis de Flavigny. Chowards I find gross.
L'epicurien also makes a small confit (jelly) of violet flowers which is very good on toasted white bread.
posted by Hypatia at 10:44 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
L'epicurien also makes a small confit (jelly) of violet flowers which is very good on toasted white bread.
posted by Hypatia at 10:44 AM on April 9 [4 favorites]
I've been grooving on asparagus lately, but only because the pea shoots I have growing on my windowsill aren't quite tall enough yet. Peas and asparagus are a good safe bet.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:32 AM on April 9 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:32 AM on April 9 [2 favorites]
Asparagus, but thin ones just barely cooked so you still taste the green when you bite it. If I'm grilling I will just literally kiss them over ripping hot grates, but for indoors blanching is probably the best option. I would suggest something super simple like a mignonette and lemon slices to serve.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:38 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]
posted by Lyn Never at 12:38 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]
Hi Dr Gail! I'm smoking bacon today, so we'll be having blt+cucumber sandwiches, this time of year I like making a mayo paste with sun dried tomatoes instead of using watery hothouse ones. Also, cruciferous veg is plentiful, so tart cabbage slaw on tacos, pickled radishes on noodles and meat dishes, a bright cauliflower soup with lemon gremolata, scallions on everything as always, and making spicy sweet potato patties with peanut sauce and herb sour cream instead of curry and rice.
posted by winesong at 2:14 PM on April 9 [2 favorites]
posted by winesong at 2:14 PM on April 9 [2 favorites]
There's a cool little brewery in Waitsburg, Washington that makes a Peach Hefeweizen which is exactly like drinking a bit of spring! The peach in the brew is very mild so not too sweet or anything. It's the Laht Nepper Brewing Company.
posted by mulcahy at 2:29 PM on April 9
posted by mulcahy at 2:29 PM on April 9
Snow peas, lightly steamed
Toasts with ricotta and steamed green peas and lemon zest
Cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches (the secret to making them incredible is a tiny smear of marmite)
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:05 PM on April 9
Toasts with ricotta and steamed green peas and lemon zest
Cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches (the secret to making them incredible is a tiny smear of marmite)
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:05 PM on April 9
Morel mushrooms pop up in April/May in the northern US for a short time. Their distinctive flavor can only be experienced during this time since they really are best when fresh.
posted by waving at 5:08 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]
posted by waving at 5:08 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]
I don't drink ice tea during the winter, and usually the first warmish day while preparing/planting the garden sends me in to make a gallon of Constant Comment with a tad bit of sugar. Drinking that cold on the deck with the salty sweat on my upper lip tastes like spring to me.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:55 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]
posted by BlueHorse at 6:55 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]
For some people in the mid-Atlantic region of the US, especially those around the Philadelphia area, "water ice" is a spring-time food. In particular, the regional chain Rita's closes during the winter and reopens in the spring. On the first day of spring, they give out free ice waters - and there are long lines of people who are happy to wait.
posted by ElKevbo at 7:24 PM on April 9
posted by ElKevbo at 7:24 PM on April 9
Anything with Meyer lemons. I know they're available in winter in some places, but they taste like spring to me.
posted by socialjusticeworrier at 9:45 PM on April 9
posted by socialjusticeworrier at 9:45 PM on April 9
Fresh English peas are Spring to me. When they first show up at the farmers' markets I always get a bunch and try use cook them that night or within the next day, keeping the preparation fresh and light. I like to just briefly sautee them in butter with a little garlic as a side dish for fish or chicken, or cook them a little more and mash them up with ricotta or goat cheese and spread on toasted bread with fresh herbs.
Same with morels. I start seeing them in late winter/early spring, and get them as often as I can, and try to use them within a couple-few days of buying. They get roasted or become soup.
Ramps, spring garlic/green garlic, and spring onions are also the tastes of spring, and it works out nicely that they can go well with peas or morels.
Baby artichokes, grilled or steamed or (if they're very tiny) fried, served with butter and aioli.
I've always thought of strawberries as summer fruit, but here in California they're actually showing up a little earlier than usual this year because of all the rain we've gotten, and I've had strawberry shortcake for dessert the past two nights -- and for breakfast this morning.
And to someone else's point above, Meyer lemons peak in winter where I am, but they produce for a long time -- so by early Spring everyone from farmers to people with a tree in their backyard are trying to use up the bounty of lemons. So I think of them as spring-y both because a lot of Meyer lemon pastas and preserves show up then, and because of the fresh sweet floral taste that goes well with all the other spring produce.
posted by rhiannonstone at 1:47 PM on April 10
Same with morels. I start seeing them in late winter/early spring, and get them as often as I can, and try to use them within a couple-few days of buying. They get roasted or become soup.
Ramps, spring garlic/green garlic, and spring onions are also the tastes of spring, and it works out nicely that they can go well with peas or morels.
Baby artichokes, grilled or steamed or (if they're very tiny) fried, served with butter and aioli.
I've always thought of strawberries as summer fruit, but here in California they're actually showing up a little earlier than usual this year because of all the rain we've gotten, and I've had strawberry shortcake for dessert the past two nights -- and for breakfast this morning.
And to someone else's point above, Meyer lemons peak in winter where I am, but they produce for a long time -- so by early Spring everyone from farmers to people with a tree in their backyard are trying to use up the bounty of lemons. So I think of them as spring-y both because a lot of Meyer lemon pastas and preserves show up then, and because of the fresh sweet floral taste that goes well with all the other spring produce.
posted by rhiannonstone at 1:47 PM on April 10
Expanding on asparagus... right now is the beginning of Spargelzeit (white asparagus season) in Germany. This is a really big deal, people get very excited. So even though I don't live in Germany anymore, nothing tastes more like Spring than steamed white Spargel with homemade hollandaise, maybe some potatoes on the side.
posted by guessthis at 3:20 AM on April 11
posted by guessthis at 3:20 AM on April 11
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posted by OHenryPacey at 8:47 AM on April 9 [1 favorite]