Spring may be coming to an end soon, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. As the old adage goes, “April showers bring May flowers,” and that includes seasonal produce. This month is the best time to celebrate spring’s most prized ingredients by enjoying a medley of colorful, mouth-watering recipes.
Back in March, I spoke with Celine Beitchman, Director of Nutrition at the Institute of Culinary Education’s New York City campus, about spring’s must-have farmers market find. When it comes to springtime cooking, Beitchman truly knows best. In anticipation of the season coming to a bittersweet end, Salon reconnected with Beitchman, who shared her top four favorite ingredients to cook with in May.
“The audiences that I tend to deal with are people who want to explore a lot of interesting ingredients, but also want to know how to cook food regularly that's going to feed them and be economical,” she said. “May is a great month to see all these really interesting, kind of esoteric things coming on the market.”
Here are the favorite ingredients to cook with right now:
Nothing screams spring like asparagus. To start, it’s one of the first vegetables to be harvested in the season, making it an essential ingredient to enjoy fresh. It’s one of the few sources of aspartic acid, which, along with glutamic acid, is responsible for the vegetable’s savory, umami flavor. And it’s available in two varieties: white and green. The former is grown underground and flaunts a more bitter and sweeter flavor profile, while the latter is grown above ground and is grassier in taste.
“For me, asparagus is just an incredible item to work with because it's high in fiber and nutrients and super easy to cook. It doesn't take a lot of time to process,” Beitchman explained. “I think all those things make it an outstanding vegetable and it can be used as an appetizer, a side dish, a snack, or a component in a sandwich. There are all kinds of ways that it can be layered into food.”
Asparagus can be thrown into risotto or pasta to add a hint of meatiness. It’s also delicious steamed with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.
“Asparagus is oftentimes associated more with Western or European style cooking,” Beitchman said. “But it has a great affinity for flavors like garlic, ginger, sesame and soy. Pairing those flavors in a quick sauté or a sauce to marinate after grilling or before grilling is a really nice way to bring out a whole other flavor profile.”
When it comes to preparing asparagus, Beitchman suggested using a knife when trimming the ends of each spear. “It’s fairly true that if you bend an asparagus tip, it's going to crack at its most perfect spot, and you're going to wind up with an inedible portion on one side and the edible portion on the other side,” she said. “I find that by doing that, you wind up losing a lot of the edible portions.”
“It’s better to use a knife and trim off maybe about an inch worth of the bottom. I always love to peel the bottom ends of the spear. I find that it really helps bring out some of that sweet, buttery interior asparagus portion. It’s also a really elegant way to serve it.”
Unbeknownst to many is that watercress is part of the cruciferous family of vegetables, alongside cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and bok choy. “If it’s not in your wheelhouse to be eating more bitter greens, like kale and collards, or cooked greens, then watercress is a really good substitute for that because you can have it fresh and add it into salads or you can eat the whole vegetable from stem to leaf,” Beitchman said.
Watercress is peppery in flavor and somewhat spicy and grassy. It pairs exceptionally well with strawberries and almonds in a spring salad. It’s also great in soups, like a watercress and potato vichyssoise.
“We do a crumbled tofu and watercress dumpling filling in the plant-based program at ICE,” Beitchman added. “We also do a couple variations on springtime risottos and fold in steamed asparagus and chopped watercress at the last minute.”
A more esoteric springtime ingredient is ramps, which are part of the onion family and flaunt a light, garlicy sweet flavor. Beitchman recommended tossing them with olive oil, salt and pepper before laying them on a sheet pan and broiling them. “It's like one of the easiest ways to cook them because you don't have to worry about processing them too much,” she said.
Ramps are mainly utilized as flavor enhancers rather than enjoyed as a main meal. They can be incorporated into pesto, using a combination of basil or other greens and a fatty cheese, or as an aromatic in a vinaigrette. Ramps are also delicious alongside fresh watercress and roasted asparagus.
A must-try for garlic lovers, garlic scapes are long, thin green shoots that grow from hardneck garlic bulbs. Beitchman describe their shape as similar to Chinese green bean plants because they both coil at the very tip.
“[Garlic scapes] can be cooked similar to ramps, where they can be tossed with oil and thrown in the oven and broiled or they can be grilled similarly,” Beitchman said. “They can also be chopped up, like you would chives, and then thrown into any kind of dish, raw or cooked.”
The longer garlic scapes sit in the refrigerator, the more bitter and potent they become. “I'd say the more tender ones — the younger ones — are going to be a little sweeter and less pungent than the older garlic scapes,” Beitchman added. “I've had garlic scapes in refrigeration for three or four weeks that haven't shown any kind of major flavor change. It'll depend a little bit about your taste tolerance, the time of the season and storage.”
When garlic scapes become too bitter for your liking, it’s best to cook or sauté them and not eat them raw. Garlic scapes can also be blended with fresh garlic and olive oil to whip up a quick yet delicious sauce, like pesto.
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