It's spring, the Vernal Equinox, a time to celebrate new beginnings and fresh food.
- Red spring radishes
- Fresh lettuce of the season
- Friends to share it with
My friends and I celebrated the Vernal Equinox with food and poetry. Everyone brought a vegetable or fruit that meant spring to them.
I brought organic butter lettuce. With its delicate, soft green leaves, everything about it says spring, though it isn't in season where I live until May. It is perfect just the way it is, great in a salad and you can use the larger leaves to wrap olives. You may know it as Boston lettuce.
My friend Nicole brought organic California strawberries. They are not usually at their peak until May or June (at least where we live) yet these ones were red all the way through: a good sign. I almost never have strawberries until they are locally available because they normally don't ship well but these ones were almost as sweet as the local in season.
Strawberries are a nutritional powerhouse of vitamin A, C. folate, calcium and potassium. There are so many ways to eat strawberries but the best way is to just wash them, take off the top and enjoy. I will be writing more about them in May.
She also brought everyone seeds for the garden, basil, Hungarian breadseed poppies and rainbow radishes. Great springtime gifts. I use basil in just about everything I make, its one of the most versatile cooking herbs. I especially love it tomato sauces, salads and on chicken.
Gillean brought a cantaloupe, "Yes I know, it's a summer or fall fruit but its seeds make me think of spring."
Our hostess Adele smiled, "So does the round shape."
Adele sprinkled dry ginger on the cantaloupe, which brought out the flavor.
Adele set a table with pink napkins and flowered placemats. She produced what she called a spring-cleaning soup.
"This is a time to clean out all the root vegetables." She explained
Here's an approximate recipe:
- 1 large onion
- one package chicken or vegetable powered broth
- potatoes
- carrots
- turnips
- celery
- water to fill the pot
Sauté onions until golden brown. Put in powder and water. Put in various root vegetables. Boil until tender, wait to cool and then put it into a Cuisenaire until puréed.
Adele also had Grape tomatoes which are smaller than cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and spring onions, along with cheese and crackers. We made a dry apple cider toast, "To new beginnings!"
Here's my article about strawberries
Please read my blog and take a poll on Seasonal Cooking
