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Easter is important not just for the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but for the power of what is happening all around us: the rebirth and new life that is exploding in nature. The amount of energy that it takes for all of this transformation to happen always astonishes me.
Where I live, in the eastern United States, this is the time of the year when all the leaves start sprouting, the flowers are popping, and nature is getting ready to reproduce. All that energy is happening right now all at the same time and I can’t help but be totally in awe of the amount of transformation that is happening all around me.
It is also time for the food I cook to reflect what is happening all around.
For me that means eating what is fresh and new, such as artichokes, arugula, asparagus, beets, fava beans, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, and strawberries.
Besides just enjoying the season's new growths, the flavors and tastes also need to change. It is time to move from the sustenance of warm comforting foods of winter to the brighter more alive tastes of spring—a more acidic, lemonier flavor that wakes up our tastebuds.
Using the sharpness, brightness, and freshness of the new growths allows us to play with and contrast the different flavors by using acidity with the freshness of herbs like mint and the sweetness of strawberries. These are just a few of the possibilities this season has to offer.
As we are just starting to see the new growths at the farmer's markets, it is nice to take what is available and begin to make those springtime adjustments to get us ready for what’s to come.
To celebrate Easter, we're cooking lamb with baby lima beans. A few years ago we figured out the recipe for 24-hour lamb and we’ve never looked back. And for dessert I’m making lemon mousse, the perfect contrast.
I’ve written about it before and posted the 24-hour recipe so I won’t do it again; I’ll just give you the link HERE
You’ll also find the recipe for 24-hour lamb in Le Kitchen Cookbook: a Workbook on page 204 and the lemon mousse recipe on page 303.
This post was created prior to our site upgrade. Comments at the time of our upgrade included:
Arlene Vaquer April 08, 2022
As a very messy baker and cook, I took your advice to prepare and measure in advance. And it really worked for the meals I made this past week. Thank you! —Arlene
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