Seasonal fruit can be hit-or-miss in April, as winter slowly segues into spring. It is, however, an excellent time for fresh walnuts. These shortbread cookies are versatile enough to pair with winter citrus marmalade, and look forward to springs berry shortcakes.
After a cold, long winter, it’s hard to wait for spring vegetables to come to their peak. Fortunately, lighter root vegetables like carrots and parsnips are still sticking around, and still most welcome on a spring table. Highly adaptable, it’s easy to garnish this recipe with things like ramps or garlic scapes as they become available.
Baby lamb chops are a great choice for an elegant midweek meal – not only do they cook quickly, but they require very little marinade time, meaning you don’t need to stress over planning ahead. A pistou is vibrant enough to stand up to the lamb, easy enough to make in next to no time, and fancy enough to make an average evening at home extraordinary.
There are some foods that just belong together: peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti and meatballs, pork chops and applesauce. In this dish pork and apples grow up, cooking in a mixture of juice and Riesling that reduces with the pan drippings into a velvety sauce.
While meant as an appetizer, it would be hard to argue against a dinner of warm piquant olives, hot crusty bread, and a rich wine. Preserved lemons are readily found in Middle Eastern shops, but if they can’t be located, the zest of a lemon will suffice. The recipe calls for Picholines, but quite honestly there is no such thing as a wrong choice when it comes to olives.
