Sunday E-dition: Celebrating Spring Vegetables
By Georgeanne Brennan
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Celebrating Spring Vegetables
By Georgeanne Brennan
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — We’ve waited out the winter, making the most of broccoli, turnips, escarole and hard-skinned squash, but now those days are behind us as spring vegetables fill the farmers market stalls. I don’t know of anyplace else where you are likely to find green garlic – the tender stalks of garlic with only a slight budding that foretells the large, many-cloved heads of mature garlic. Or perhaps even more fleeting, the tender, immature pods of fava beans that can be eaten whole before the beans form. Asparagus is more common, but you’ll find local asparagus at the markets now, and it is uncommonly fresh and sweet.
Another spring delicacy — perhaps my favorite — is fresh English peas. Yes, they take time to shell, but they are worth every moment. Just pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy the experience, knowing that soon you’ll be savoring them.