Crocus & Daffodils blooming, and ___ cooking heralds SPRING!
Winter doldrums have set in. I need to think ahead.......imagining acres of tulips and the foods that mean Spring to me ...... tender asparagus and grilled lamb, with thoughts of big, red, juicy strawberries dancing in my head a little further down the road. New life can't come soon enough!
What foods say SPRING to you?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
11 Comments:
Asparagus, strawberries & rhubarb. I am soo looking forward to these fresh fruits & vegetables.
JEP at 9:10PM on 02/16/08
Ramps and morels.
When we lived in Virginia we knew Spring had arrived when fresh ramps or fresh morels appeared on restaurant menus. There is nothing like the flavor of grilled fresh ramps.
On an ethnic note, fatsia shoots. These grow wild and are foraged in the early Spring. Highly sought after in Korean cooking due to its fleeting season and incomparable flavor. My mom used to say the timing was tricky because you wanted to wait for the shoots to reach a decent size, but then you ran the risk of someone else getting to them first.
This will be our first Spring in Indy and it can't come fast enough for me--it has been COLD! I'll let you know if I encounter any of these delicacies.
wookie at 10:29PM on 02/16/08
@wookie.......ramps are new to me, as are fatsia shoots.
Can you describe ramps? I couldn't find them on the web.
PerkyMac at 10:45PM on 02/16/08
@PerkyMac - Ramps are wild spring onions. Sort of like a scallion on crack. Its greens are almost leafy. Flavor is intense when raw, but when cooked, it has a subtlety that scallions can't come close to. I think they are found in Applachia and surrounding foothills. I have not had much luck finding them in stores--you really need to be connected to the food industry or know some hill billies who will forage them for you. The season for ramps is extremely quick.
Try googling: ramps, chef, spring menus, or a combination thereof.
Fatsia shoots are REALLY hard to describe. And I should admit that I only knew it by its Korean name for years until I ran across a reference to it in 'Growing Up In A Korean Kitchen' by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall. Koreans call it "tu-rup" or "doo roop" (roll your r's).
wookie at 11:27PM on 02/16/08
asparagus...every day while it's in season till I can't stand it anymore. There's no point in eating that out-of-season stuff they ship here from other countries in my humble opinion.
kathyvegas at 2:46PM on 02/17/08
it's spring for sure when sugar snap peas appear at the greenmarket. i practically live on them for the few weeks they are here.
... or when the first cherries arrive from california, usually around the first of may. they are such heaven {not very locavore of me, i know} after a winter of apples and grapefruit.
cybercita at 9:06PM on 02/17/08
Definitely asparagus and strawberries! I just asked my husband what foods say "spring" to him, and he said "peeps" without hesitation, which is funny considering that he doesn't eat the stuff! I guess he's right though - once you see them in stores, you know it's spring:-).
brooke29 at 9:24PM on 02/17/08
Fresh garden peas. And lamb. Mmm.
thebasilqueen at 10:45PM on 02/17/08
@cybercita......sugar snap peas........rarely have any left to cook because they are like candy. Don't even get me started on sweet black cherries. I could fill a bathtub with the pits! ;)
PerkyMac at 9:55AM on 02/18/08
I'm piling on with the asparagus folks! Also rhubarb -- in pies, of course, and I also love to make chutney with it and spoon it over roasted pork loin.
And PerkyMac - I could eat my weight in cherries! My husband asked me recently why we need 2 cherry pitters - I just rolled my eyes... :)
CookiePie at 10:09AM on 02/18/08
perkymac, me too -- i'll buy a big bag of sugar snaps at the greenmarket thinking i'll make them for dinner, and they'll be gone by the time i get to the gym, which is less than two blocks from union square.
cybercita at 11:48AM on 02/18/08