Asparagus

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Got gorgeous spring vegetables? These three recipes spotlight them deliciously

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Olivia Lopez’s Tetelas with Spring Vegetables

By Leslie Brenner

There’s nothing like the season’s first asparagus, favas, green garbanzos and English peas to excite produce-worshiping cooks. And when treasures like ramps, morels or fiddlehead ferns turn up on a forest walk or a swing through the farmer’s market, the urge to create something special inevitably swells into can’t-wait-to-get-these-in-a-pan.

It’s not always easy to find recipes starring the more fleeting of these vegetables; improvising is great route, if you’ve got some skills and a bit of flair. Happily, all these springtime treats go beautifully together, whether on a savory tart, a quick sauté or a salad. Or you could resurrect that old 70’s-and-80’s standby, pasta primavera.

Don’t forget that you can round out a combo with more commonplace springy veg — slender young carrots, French green beans, sugar snap peas and radishes. And no one will arrest you if you toss in something frozen, like peas, shelled favas or artichoke hearts.

Harmony in a soup plate

Two years ago, I was smitten by a beautiful spring vegetable soup Ellie Krieger had created for The Washington Post, and took it a step farther by broadening the palette of vegetables and making it vegan. (It’s based on leek broth rather than chicken broth; you could also use store-bought vegetable broth.) Besides asparagus, carrots, French green beans, turnips and baby spinach leaves, it also calls for English peas or frozen peas. You could substitute sugar snaps, and add or subtract whatever — quartered radishes, favas, morels, green garbanzos and garlic scapes would all be fabulous additions (toss them in when you cook the diced turnips).

Garden-fresh modern Mexican

Or take a tip from Cooks Without Borders’ Mexican cuisine expert Olivia Lopez and give her Tetelas with Spring Vegetables a whirl. The triangular tetelas are made from heirloom masa harina that you press into tortilla rounds, fill with vegan refried beans and cook on a griddle or comal. Top them with beautiful tumble of sautéd spring veg enlivened with lime and cilantro, plus charred scallion and blips of requesón (fresh Mexican cheese) or ricotta. If you happen to have some salsa macha, it’s wonderful drizzled on as a final florish. (Or not!)

RECIPE: Olivia Lopez’s Tetelas with Spring Vegetables

The dish has a similar vibe to a dish Olivia has created for a Molino Olōyō pop-up dinner in Dallas on April 17. Leading off a tasting menu of eight courses, her Sopecito con Alcachofa will feature baby artichokes, garden peas, green onions and requesón. “Spring ingredients were the inspiration for both,” she says. (There are still a few seats available — more info here.)

Luxurious springtime stew inspired by Spain

Finally, though this dish was inspired by a soup — minestra de primavera, traditional in the Navarre and Rioja regions of Spain — in the hands of superstar cookbook author Claudia Roden, it’s more like a spring stew.

A little cured pork in the form of prosciutto, serrano ham or bacon gives it depth and umami; cooking the vegetables long enough so they’re meltingly tender makes it deeply delicious. It’s definitely for folks won’t don’t want their vegetables crunchy. I highly recommended it.

RECIPE: Claudia Roden’s Medley of Spring Vegetables

Let yourself riff on any of the three recipes, and the possibilities are endless.

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Spring's dynamic duo — grilled butterflied leg of lamb and asparagus — make a marvelous (and portable!) feast

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By Leslie Brenner

In my corner of planet earth, we’ve arrived at the point in spring when the evenings are starting to stay warm enough to kindle thoughts of grilling — of sharing a glass of rosé out on the patio with friends, of nibbling dips and chips and such and taking in the intoxicating aroma of something delectable cooking over the coals.

And so yesterday, with our patio not yet exactly fit for prime time, I proposed bringing a ready-to-go grilling party to friends who had just moved into a new house. A butterflied leg of lamb and asparagus would be the base offering, along with a bottle of French rosé. Not a hard sell — you should try it some time!

It was so easy to put together — and turned to to be so delicious — that it sparked an “aha” moment: Rosy slices of flavorful grilled lamb and tender spears of lightly charred asparagus love to be the life of the spring party. The combo isn’t only great for instigating BYO-main course dinner invitations; it’s also the delightfully low-stress solution for Easter dinner or lunch, breaking a Ramadan fast, or (in a matter of weeks) setting the table for Mother's Day.

Asparagus and spring onions, cooked on the grill

Prepping for the event is shockingly quick. Procure a boneless leg of lamb: The first one I saw was 2.8 pounds, large enough to serve 6. A smaller one would be sufficient for four. Grab some fresh herbs — our marinade recipe calls for mint and cilantro, but you could swap either for parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano or marjoram, or use a combo. You probably have everything else (red wine vinegar, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper) on hand. And grab a bunch or two of asparagus: a pound and a half is perfect for four, two pounds for six.

This time of year, you might also find spring onions — the ones that look like scallions, but with much bigger bulbs on the bottom. Yesterday I found both red and white ones. These are fantastic thrown on that grill as well — as are garlic scapes, if you’re lucky enough to find them.

Once you’re home with the booty, make a marinade: Chop the herbs, toss in a bowl with pressed garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper, whisk in olive oil. Unwrap the lamb, removing any strings holding it in shape, and flatten it as much as possible. If it doesn’t lay flat, feel free to slash with a knife here and there, keeping it all in one piece: You want a shape that will cook relatively evenly on the grill. Don’t worry, though, if it’s much thicker in places — it’ll still be great.

Place the lamb in a shallow bowl, coat it on both sides with the marinade and transfer it to a large zipper bag. (Alternatively, you can put the lamb in the bag, pour in the marinade, zip it up (pushing out the air first), then massage it a bit so it’s completely covered in marinade. Leave it like that for at least two hours (refrigerating for all but the last hour), and it’s ready to cook. Heat the grill, wipe off the marinade and cook on both sides — it’s quicker than you might think: 12 to 22 minutes total (depending on the heat of the grill) will get you lamb that’s medium-rare where thickest and medium where thinnest.

RECIPE: Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb

You should have enough room on the grill to throw on the asparagus — which needs nothing more than olive oil and salt before going on. (For my portable feast, I trimmed off their woody bottoms and placed them in a zipper bag with about two teaspoons of oil and about a quarter teaspoon of salt, zipped it up, rolled the spears around a bit to coat, and transported them just so.) Ditto the spring onions: Trim the tops, slice them in half, creating a flat surface on the bulbs, and give them the same oil-and-salt treatment. If you’re not transporting them, you can put the asparagus (and spring onions if using) on a sheet pan, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt, and let them sit till you’re ready to grill.

As for timing, you can grill the asparagus at the same time as the lamb, cooking till the spears are as tender as you like them (I like them tender, and take them off when they’re floppy with picked up with tongs). Spring onions or garlic scapes will be perfect once they’re a bit charred, and both are fine served room temp. Want them hot? Grill the veg once you’ve pulled off the lamb to rest 10 minutes.

Slice the lamb, arrange on a platter surrounded by the asparagus, pour any collected juices over the lamb, and your feast is ready.

And it’s delicious just like that. Want to make a few more things?

This Tangy Green Everything Sauce — packed with mint, parsley, dill and shallots — is pretty dreamy with the lamb.

And so is its oregano-forward cousin, chimichurri. Both can be made ahead, and they’re easy to transport in a jar.

Yesterday, prepping the lamb, asparagus and spring onions was so quick that I remembered some red potatoes I had in the pantry, I boiled them up and threw together a quick (and super portable!) French-accented potato salad. While the potatoes cooked, I whisked together red wine vinegar, a goodly dollop of whole-grain mustard, salt and olive oil, then added a spoonful of mayo, thinly sliced shallots, roughly chopped parsley and black pepper. When the potatoes were cooked, I sliced them in their jackets and tossed them with the sauce: delicious.

A bit more involved, our Best Potato Salad Ever is great with this, too. (Find more potato salad recipes here.) All potato salads are portable as can be — ideal for stress-free at-home entertaining, or we’ll-bring-it-all personal pop-up dinners.

For dessert, the arrival of strawberry season makes it easy to keep it simple: Stem the berries (halving or quartering if they’re large), sprinkle with a little sugar or toss in Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur, let macerate an hour or two and serve just like that. Or with ice cream.

Strawberry Pavlova

If it’s a fancier feast, you can make Strawberry Pavlovas: These are great for Easter, Mother’s Day or Passover celebrations (they’re flour-free!). Again, everything can be made ahead — just assemble them on the spot.

So that’s the blueprint: As simple or extended as you like.

Happy spring!

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