April’s fresh greens usher in spring salad season
Warmer weather, colorful flowers and gloriously sunny skies aren’t the only things that put spring on people’s lists as the best season.
If you’re a cook, April is when you can look forward to a bounty of fresh herbs, tender lettuces and green vegetables not just in the grocery store, but at local farmers markets.
Sure, you can find fresh vegetables year-round at even the smallest markets. They’re just extra-awesome when you know something is only available for a couple of weeks in spring or has been grown nearby by a local farmer.
Asparagus immediately comes to mind as one of the season’s prized veggies. After months of eating winter root vegetables and lettuces and other greens grown in Mexico or California, now is the time to add the slightly peppery bite of locally grown arugula to the daily menu, along with the crunch of young Romaine and delicate nuttiness of supersweet spinach.
Rhubarb, which pairs so wonderfully with strawberries, is also only available fresh in the spring. And who can resist the vibrant green color of two other seasonal favorites in sugar snap peas and green onions?
Delightful, right? Not to mention uber-nutritious and super refreshing.
It all adds up to spring being a great time to add a few new entree salads to your weekly rotation.
After our long winter nap, we can feel a little rusty coming up with fresh ideas for really great salads or seasonal sides. The three easy recipes from three new cookbooks that follow are a great way to get started.
One from Christopher Kimball’s very engaging latest tome, “Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year,” turns a traditional chicken salad on its head by tossing the meat in a creamy (and super green) tahini-herb dressing instead of mayonnaise. It includes sliced green apple and celery for extra crunch.
A recipe from America’s Test Kitchen’s new “The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook, 10th Anniversary Edition” joins sweet and delicately briny scallops with sugar snap peas and the zesty bite of fresh radish.
And for you asparagus lovers? We capture the flavors of the French Riviera with a recipe from French food writer Rosa Jackson’s just-released cookbook, “Nicoise: Market-Inspired Cooking from France’s Sunniest City.” It dishes up asparagus in a zesty but incredibly simple yogurt dressing, with a lovely grated-egg garnish.
All can be prepared in less than a half-hour and are gorgeous on the table. That leaves plenty of time and energy for where most of us really want to be spending time when April’s showers give way to spring sunshine – outdoors.
We’ve also included Milk Street’s “foolproof” vinaigrette recipe for those fuss-free days when a simple bowl of salad greens suffices as a side or starter.
“The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook, 10th Anniversary” by America’s Test Kitchen (April 2024, $40)