In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.
When I was a kid, pea season was a mixed blessing. On the bright side, it meant that we would get fresh sweet peas on the table. Whether from our family garden or from a local farmers' market, the just-harvested peas were invariably sweet, crunchy and delicious. On the other hand, our regular servings of fresh peas translated into hours spent on the porch shelling the bright green pods. Even under the best circumstances, it was dull, tedious work.
My mother's pea salad recipe, which combines the sweetness of peas with the light flavor of dill, tended to overshadow the peas with a heavy helping of sour cream, mayonnaise and scallions. My modified version, included below, lets the flavor of the peas shine through, but retains the original's cool summer flavors.
Get the recipe for dilled pea salad after the jump.
Like ramps and asparagus, morels are synonymous with spring, and an edible reminder of the season's brevity. It feels less like morels have a season than a quick, annual engagement: catching them at the farmers market is like catching a solar eclipse, or Tom Jones at the MGM Grand in Vegas.
Morels are wild mushrooms that grow in forested areas throughout many parts of the country, and generally begin appearing sometime in April. They're usually available until the early summer, but their season can vary by a week or two depending on the region and the amount of rainfall. They're slender, knobby things with intricately ridged and wrinkled skin, and look like they sprouted from the pages of the Brothers Grimm. Their homely appearance belies their heavenly flavor, which is expressed to spectacular effect in the company of dairy, fat and and asparagus. Scrambled eggs are thus an ideal way to enjoy morels -- think of it as less an egg dish than a vehicle for delivering the best of the season to your very happy stomach.
Read the recipe for scrambled eggs with morels, asparagus and spring onions after the jump.
As one of New York City's most well-appointed concert venues, the Highline Ballroom gets its share of long lines. But the 180 people milling outside its entrance yesterday afternoon hadn't come for the music. They'd come for the soy.
Soy doesn't exactly scream "ruthless fight to the finish," or summon images of a marauding vegetarians. Yet the stakes at the first-ever Tofu Takedown were high enough to inspire even committed bacon lovers to attend the spirited competition, which was organized by Matt Timms, the hungry genius behind the chili, salsa, fondue, cookie and bacon takedowns.
Seventeen amateur cooks gathered in the ballroom to battle it out for tofu supremacy with entries that ranged from so-called "Ethiopian empanadas" to salted caramel tofu gelato. Somewhat surprisingly, sweet far outnumbered savory, demonstrating just how far tofu has come in its role as an ingredient for dessert.
Chili takedowns, cookie takedowns, bacon, salsa and fondue takedowns. Hey, man, competition is sorta part of living in New York City ("if you can make it here ...").
But a Tofu Takedown? Perhaps sensing the neglect felt by vegetarians unable to partake in the carnivorous joys of previous food fights, Matt Timms, the creator of the infamous Chili Takedown, is inciting meat-free madness on May 10. Because nothing says a fight to the death like fermented soybeans, right?
Watercress might just seem like a staple for ladies who lunch on tea sandwiches, but it has a fascinating reputation in the health world. Legend touts its powers as an aphrodisiac, a cure for baldness and even a cure for hangovers.
I'm not so sure about its powers to grow your libido or hair, but I'm guessing that its reputation as a hangover cure comes from its high potassium content. Since potassium is a mineral, which can become depleted due to dehydration from overindulging on alcohol, it could very well be that watercress might just help to soothe that morning-after headache.
I see watercress more as a delicious, energizing ingredient in fast and fresh modern cuisine. When the weather warms up, cool drinks and chilled soups not only refresh -- they also provide great ways add nutrition, giving you more energy to enjoy long summer nights.
Get Jennifer's Watercress Soup with Strawberry Salsa recipe after the jump.
There are some vegetarians out there who swear up and down that a veggie burger tastes just like the real, meaty original. Well, we disagree, but that also doesn't mean that veggie burgers are bad. In fact, vegetable patties can offer a whole other realm of flavor -- especially when they're made from freshly sautéed mushrooms.
Next time you have a hankering for meat-free burgers, don't pick them up at the store. Instead, whip up the veggie burgers above, courtesy of Chef John's Food Wishes. A simple mix of sauteed 'shrooms and onions bound together with oatmeal and breadcrumbs, they look pretty delish. The recipe can be found right here, and while you're at it, skim the rest of the site as well. We're betting you'll find some tasty grub videos you can't resist.
Any vegetarians out there? Got a secret veggie burger recipe or fave storebought brand?
Any news about PETA usually makes me roll my eyes, but for once, I think they're on to something. Rather than lathering in terrible logic and alienating those they want to convert, they've grabbed the wonderful Cloris Leachman and gone fancy.
That picture to the right, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, presents Ms. Leachman in a ball gown of lettuce with the catch-phrase "Let Vegetarianism Grow on You."
It's not really the sort of image that will inspire masses to put down the bacon and grab a head of lettuce, but it is a fabulous picture.
I think it's time to put the babies aside and dress more women in greenery ... as long as PETA is prepared for me to admire the pics whilst eating a medium-rare burger.
Towards the middle of spring, fava beans or as the English call them -- broad beans -- can be found at farmer's markets across the country. Their rich buttery texture and heavenly nutty taste not only complement meats, fish and other fruits and vegetables, but also make them standouts on their own.
Fava beans are eaten around the world as a snack and as a full meal. They're used as essential ingredients in meals ranging from salad to pork shoulder to bean paste. In the Middle East, fava beans are crushed in a sauce and eaten for breakfast in a dish called "ful medames."
In Iran, fava beans are conserved in metal cans and eaten throughout the winter with salt and pepper. They can also be fried and eaten as a delicious crunchy snack, as done in Mexico, Peru, China and Thailand.
For any cheese enthusiast, spring means the return of diverse goat's-milk cheeses.
The goat's milk from the spring produces a unique grassy taste with an exquisite floral aroma with notes of hay. This is due to the fact that the goats are beginning to graze on the fresh spring flora.
Compared to most sheep and cows, goats have the most varied diet. Their milk is also the lowest in fat. With less fat to balance out the pungent flavors, you can really taste the natural piquancy of lush spring fields.
Click for ways to eat this springtime treat after the jump.
The first seasonal strawberries appear as early as April. The deliciously tart fruit we've come to know today originated in grassy woodlands all over Europe. Find out how to transform these red, ripe, sweet and succulent treats of nature into fabulous desserts.
Strawberries taste delicious eaten plain with a glass of champagne. But in a pie, their juiciness creates a distinctly bitter-sweet flavor that sits on the palate and seems to melt into the pie crust.
Strawberries taste especially rich when paired with milky desserts, like panna cotta and mascarpone. Or, simply add slices of strawberries to a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
This candy-like fruit easily creates a sweet distinctive jam without adding any pectin. Below are eight especially delicious strawberry desserts to try at home:
I will never forget my experience browsing through the open-air market in Potsdam, Germany and discovering the culinary delights of white asparagus. My eyes were overwhelmed by the magnificent sight of thick, extremely straight white asparagus spears. That evening, I cooked this delicate white asparagus and topped it off with hollandaise sauce.
Ever since that experience, I never thought of asparagus in the same way. It went from being a vegetable that I detested throughout childhood to a respected art of nature.
April is the prime month for the asparagus season. While the evenings get warmer, the quantity of the harvest increases. There are four main varieties: green, white, violet and wild. Green asparagus is the one most commonly grown in the United States.
There are numerous ways to use asparagus in a dish. But, as we enter spring, it's time to think about refreshing salads that place this delicious crunchy vegetable at the center. Below are eight different recipes for asparagus salad:
Making buttermilk mashed potatoes can easily go wrong. The buttermilk can curdle, and too much butter can obscure the buttermilk flavor. Check out these easy tactics to prevent such problems.
"Dear Mr. Clooney," begins the PETA letter. "We have been offered some of your perspiration, apparently taken from a towel at a gym in Washington, D.C...this prospect has given us an interesting idea...The technology actually exists to take your perspiration and make it into George Clooney-flavored tofu (CloFu)...CloFu will help people be more healthy and environmentally friendly and will spare animals from being killed for the table...The science is pretty straightforward...if you use a sample of human perspiration, it is 'no different than making artificial chicken flavor for instant gravy.'"
I'm pretty sure PETA's kidding about this one, a mere publicity stunt to promote tofu while showing us that "chicken flavoring" is just as gross and weird as "human flavoring." Right? Right?
For his Minimalist column in the New York Times Dining & Wine section, Mark Bittman cooks and eats everything from rib eye steak to cheesy potato gratin. But when his doctor told him he had high cholesterol, borderline high blood sugar and was 35 pounds overweight, he realized he needed to make some changes to his diet. The doctor suggested trying veganism, but Bittman, a confirmed omnivore, said no way.
Lo and behold, the "vegan 'til dinnertime" plan worked. "Within three or four months, I lost 35 pounds, my blood sugar was normal, cholesterol levels were again normal ... and my sleep apnea indeed went away," said Bittman, quoted in a New York Times health column. He says though he realizes the diet wouldn't work for everyone, he wants people to see that even simple eating changes can have a big impact on health.
Interesting. I have a feeling that if I let myself eat absolutely anything I wanted after 6 p.m., I would gain weight in rather short order regardless of what I ate during the day (what I want to eat after 6 p.m. is often of the cookie dough and caramels variety).
Have you tried partial vegan diets or restricting foods before or after a certain hour? Did it work?
When making a beef or vegetarian soup and stew, there are some main ingredients that can create a meaty taste while stimulating the tongue's taste receptors.
We can change the way we make eggs -- scrambled, poached, fried -- but what about changing the eggs themselves? Mix up your scrambling routine with quail eggs.
"
For his Minimalist column in the New York Times Dining & Wine section, Mark Bittman cooks and eats everything from rib eye steak to cheesy potato gratin. But when his doctor told him he had high cholesterol, borderline high blood sugar and was 35 pounds overweight, he realized he needed to make some changes to his diet. The doctor suggested trying veganism, but Bittman, a confirmed omnivore, said no way. 
Second Helping of Slashfood - June 19
Competitive-Eating Contest to Pit Humans Against Elephants
The Backyard Boom - The Hungry Bride
