Spring in the air makes me want to add a few things to the menu that taste like spring to me. Things like green peas, fresh lettuce, beets and broccoli.

Nothing much growing in the garden right now except broccoli, which hasn’t made heads yet, so I will have to be satisfied with purchasing some organics this week.

One thing that I love in the spring are foods that use spring growing veggies and have a wintery filling quality to them. A favorite would be endive salad with Granny Smith apples and walnuts. Endive is a bitter green that is crisp like lettuce. There is red endive, which is actually burgundy colored and white, and Belgian Endive which is pale greenish white.

Endive and Apple Salad

3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups sliced Granny Smith apple (about 2 large)
3 heads Belgian endive, separated into leaves (about 3/4 pound)
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, whisk together. Add apple and endive. Toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with nuts.
Now, to really make it filling, add some crumbled cheese like Gorgonzola or Blue Cheese. Excellent!

Another early spring favorite is Clafouti. I have made it in the past using cherries from my Mom and Dad’s trees.  Some years I buy cherries when they start appearing at the Farmer’s Market. Clafouti is basically a flan or custard with cherries in it. Here is my Clafouti recipe.
You can use most any fruit in a Clafouti, so if you don’t like cherries, try blueberries or even strawberries.
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups pitted cherries
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the flour, sugar, salt, milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside to rest for about 10 minutes.
Butter the bottom of a deep pie dish or a 2-quart baking dish that is at least 1 1/2 inches deep. Spread the cherries evenly over the bottom of the dish and pour the batter over the top.
Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for for 45-50 minutes, or until the top is browned and a knife inserted into middle of dish comes out clean.
Remove from oven, sprinkle powdered sugar through a sieve over the top of the Clafouti and serve immediately.
You can wait to sprinkle the powdered sugar over it until serving time.

Main dishes in the early spring are usually a mixture of both spring and winter elements. A good example would be this delicious Root Veggie Soup.

You will need some basic ingredients …..

Good homemade chicken stock
1 large onion, chopped finely
a few potatoes, peeled and chopped, plus some of each of these vegetables, peeled if desired, and chopped:
carrots
turnips
celery
Then you will need a bay leaf, about 6 peppercorns, a few sprigs of fresh thyme and water to fill the pot. Put everything in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer til very tender.
Once everything is tender, let it cool. Next, remove the whole herbs and peppercorns, puree the veggies, add them back to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with toast or bread and a green salad.

I didn’t even get to my menus, did I? I’ll make another post for those.