Here’s a quick little savory snack, appetizer or side dish for lunch or crunch: Brie, Asparagus and Prosciutto Pastries. They use store-bought frozen puff pastry and can be ready in just about 30-45 minutes, and can also be eaten hot or at room temperature. Pretty and have an “early summer” vibe with the asparagus. Don’t like brie? You can sub out swiss cheese too!
It’s Wild Garlic (aka Ramps, aka Ransom, aka deliciousness to forage) season, and while I found some “fresh” (ok, fresh at the farmer’s market this time; I haven’t had my usual opportunities to walk in the woods), I also made quite a bit of pesto last year already that I then froze to use this year. I love ramps (German: Bärlauch) and because it has such as short season, it feels like a treat to manage to have made this bread. Great for dipping in some good olive oil and salt, it also made a mighty fine panini last night.
Don’t have Wild Garlic pesto? This recipe will work best as well with basil and garlic pesto or garlic scape pesto.
Here’s a delicious little spring tart (hence the name, Crostata Primavera), with all sorts of early in the season bounty: asparagus, peas and baby arugula/rocket. It’s very green, which is the intent as it is Easter Week and this is something for “Green Thursday (Gründonnerstag)”, which is how some people in Germany refer to Holy Thursday. Was very easy to make, required very little prep time and was ready in under an hour. Can be eaten hot or at room temperature, for brunch or lunch. Might have to put this one on the regular spring rotation.
What’s not to love about jumbo meatballs, right? And these ae even better now that I have found a local butcher that grinds bacon into his ground beef to make this luscious bacon-y beef that would be perfect for lots of things — I’ve used it for bolognese, burgers and these here jumbo meatballs (also works with regular mince, if you can find the bacon-y kind. The meatballs are the size of my fist and one is usually enough per person (though I usually make extras. Totally hearty and filling!
This is one of my main-stay. go-to dishes. Super-versatile with the veggies and the protein, you can make this curry almost anyway you choose, at the spiciness level that you want, and it’s all ready in about the time that it take my rice cooker to make the rice (which is to say, 20-30 minutes). Also, it makes great leftovers for lunch the next day. And besides, who doesn’t love to eat all the colors of the rainbow!