The Taste Of Green

I simply love this time of the year when the days are clear, the nights are cool, the maples are blooming, the buds are swelling on the trees, and so many green things – good to eat too – are poking out of the ground, or just starting to grow for real.

Witness:

  • The acid green of sorrel. Lemony flavor in our salads and tart soups and sauces. Lovely with potatoes.

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  • The mildly nutty green of mache. They’ve grown slowly throughout the winter and suddenly they are exploding all over the garden – giving me about 3 weeks of mache madness, rushing to cut, cut, cut before they bolt.

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  • The crunchy green of escarole. They looked sad and bedraggled in January & February, but a few mild (OK, warm) days with some rain, and soon, we’ll have braised escarole (with garlic)
  • 2010-03-22-047-escarole

  • The shiny dark green of cilantro; after hugging the ground for the winter, the stems and leaves are now reaching up making it easy to cut big fragrant bunches. It’s time to throw handfuls of cilantro with noodles, bean salads, rice dishes and stir fries. Like me, cilantro loves the cool weather of early spring.

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  • The brilliant greens (and reds) of lettuce mixes, some smooth, some frilly. We are eating lots of salads…

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  • … and the tender green of peas, just pushing their little noses out. Ok, those we are not eating for a while…

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I simply love walking throughout the garden with a pair of scissors and a big bowl at this time of the year… don’t you?



9 thoughts on “The Taste Of Green”

  • Lovely stuff, Sylvie. Wish mine were this far along already. I just harvested the rest of last year’s mizuna as it rapidly goes to flower. Red mustard still abundant. Sorrel coming on strong. Everything else is growing gangbusters. I planted escarole this year–no germination yet. Can’t wait.

  • We are also sorrel enthusiasts. I love the idea of using it with potato dishes, I shall have to try that. Our escarole just germinated a few weeks ago and will soon be transplanted into the garden. I see you like some of the stronger flavored greens…so do we.:)

  • Ed – yeah but YOU have parsnip and I don’t. There is always something else we wished we had planted, isn’t it? Escarole does well for me even in the summer, so I really like it.

    Julia – thanks. Spring IS coming.

    Mike – sorrel is very nice in potato salad, in cold vichysoisse, with boiled and steamed potatoes etc. Yes, try it (warning, when it cooks, it melts even worse than spinach and looses its bright acid color)

  • Sylvie, those are gorgeous, enticing photos and descriptions. My sorrel here in Saint Paul is barely putting its nose above ground now.

    Et dites-moi, s.v.p., pourquoi je ne peut pas pousser la mache? If I get it to germinate, it seems to just sort of sit there, then bolt. Yours looks so lush, so early in the year.

    Brett

  • we do something similar. Our winter greens are still doing well and we cut them and make them for dinner. We also just did up a couple of lettuce bowls on the deck along with head lettuce in the garden. Made fresh greens recently for my sister and her husband and opened their eyes both to greens and how good things are when they are that fresh from the garden.

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