Two aspects f Spring cooking are tightness and freshness.Gone are heavy winter stews and roasts. Gone are the root veggies that make up most of a cold weather diet. Now it's time to celebrate with lighter ingredients and a warmer weather outlook on cooking and baking.
Regular contributor David Tanis gave three seasonably perfect recipes for this kind of meal in today[s New York Times Wednesday Food section, The main course is salmon which he liberally douses with freshly ground pepper and nutty brown butter.He also does this for the side of parsley potatoes. Brown butter is an easy make .Just take a knob of butter and toss it in a hot pan.Let it sizzle for a minute and and a squeeze of lemon juice.The potatoes are just as easy to fix and go well with the fish. They're first boiled and then simmered in a pot of well salted water They're then taken out left to slightly cool and peeled. They;re returned to the pott be warmed. Parsley is then sprinkled on them right before serving.Of course the star of any Spring table is asparagus.Mr Tanis chooses to put it into a salad with feta cheese The tough ends are snipped off and the stalked are boiled in well salted water . After make the dressing a lemon vinaigrette with the addition of two teaspoons of Dijon mustard.Arugula,dill and feta are then added to the dressed asparagus spears.
Any Spring meal should have a fruity dessert Mr. Tanis gives a fresh strawberry tart This is a classic French tart that has a buttery pastry shell filled with a light custard. Strawberries top this off. The filling is an almond frangipane, which has a quarter cup of whole almonds that have been ground together with flour and sugar to form a rough powder two large beaten eggs are added a long with half a cup of butter (use a good one like Kerry Gold for this and the pastry shell).Almond extract is also used to bring out the almond flavor. The pastry shell is another butter rich creation.One half cup of thinly sliced cold butter is added to a cup of flour and two tablespoons of sugar. The dough is made, pressed into a pastry pan and left to chill for two hours. The filling is then poured into it and everything is baked in a preheated 375 degree oven for thirty to forty minutes. The shell should be nicely browned by then.Let cool and then add whole or halved strawberries. Mr.Tanis dusts his tart with confectioner's sugar but it could be left plain too. Warmed apricot or raspberry jam can also be gently brushed over the berries with a pastry brush.
A Spring meal has the lightness and flavors of the season.These thee recipes certainly have that. Try them for a nice welcoming to warmer weather,
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