Spring

You can make this sauce with thawed frozen peas instead of fresh, in which case they don’t need to be blanched.

Steamed artichokes are often served with melted butter and other sauces that are high in fat and have little nutritional value. The dips here use healthier ingredients and integrate spices and herbs for bold flavor.

During the summer monsoons in Santa Fe, we forage for wild mushrooms—mostly porcini-like varieties—in the high-altitude forests of the nearby Sangre de Cristo Mountains. We’re always looking for new ways to use our earthy, robust bounty, and this woodsy taco is one of our favorites. Buy wild mushrooms in at least three colors or textures. They’ll add interest to the filling and give you the option of mixing less costly types with the more pricey ones. Avoid shiitakes and enokis, which don’t pair well with wild mushrooms (the enoki are too acrid, and the shiitake too powerful) or lobster mushrooms as they don’t cook at the same rate and remain hard. Aim for a mix that is woodsy, rich, delicate, and very flavorful. Good substitutions for fresh wild mushrooms are a mix of dried wild mushrooms and fresh criminis, or dried porcini and thinly sliced portobellos.

A composed salad of marinated seasonal vegetables becomes a main course when fortified with sliced poached chicken. Not only is this an economical way to stretch a meal, it is practical in other ways, too. For starters, many of the components can be prepared (and refrigerated) ahead, and when served as shown, guests can select the ingredients they prefer. This salad offers an array of springtime’s fresh bounty, including asparagus, new potatoes, leeks, and artichokes, all gently cooked just until tender. You can adapt this formula to take advantage of whatever is in season throughout the year.

This “white” stew borrows a nonbrowning method commonly used in making blanquette de veau, one of the canons of French cuisine. In that dish, a stew of veal, onions, and mushrooms is blanketed in a creamy sauce. The meat is never browned (hence the term “white stew”); the stock is thickened with a roux and, traditionally, a secondary thickener called a liaison, made with egg and cream, making it exceptionally rich. This recipe, however, opts for springtime produce over the usual vegetables and makes the liaison optional (you can omit the egg and just stir in the cream, without tempering). To make a classic blanquette de veau, see the variation that follows.

Steaming is the classic way to cook globe artichokes. Their leaves become very tender and perfect for dipping one by one into melted butter (this one is flavored with fresh tarragon). The artichokes would also be delicious with Hollandaise Sauce (page 96), or crème fraîche and caviar.

A compote is a simple fruit sauce that usually serves as one element of a multilayered dessert. It’s used to top cakes or scoops of ice cream or as an accompaniment to mildly flavored cookies such as shortbread. Rhubarb requires a higher proportion of sugar than most fruits, since it is naturally sour; here it is also flavored with citrus zests. If you want to use other fruits, such as stone fruits or pears, adjust the amount of sugar depending on their sweetness.

When steaming asparagus, choose thick stalks over pencil-thin ones, which cook quickly and can become limp. The cooking time depends on the thickness and freshness of the stalk, as well as your preference for firmer or more tender texture.

A simple buttermilk biscuit serves as the basis for fruit shortcake. As with many easy recipes, your success rate at making biscuits will most likely grow exponentially with each attempt. There’s nothing tricky about it; just be sure to work quickly and not to overwork the dough at all, which will cause the biscuits to become heavy and flat. In this recipe, a traditional strawberry shortcake is enhanced by a rhubarb compote to serve along with the macerated berries. You can use one fruit and not the other (by doubling the amount of either topping). Or substitute an equal amount of another fruit for the rhubarb, or macerate any other type of berry. An apricot compote would be lovely with macerated blackberries, for example, or nectarines with raspberries. The whipped cream, however, is not optional; it’s a fundamental part of the appeal of fruit shortcake. The biscuits, meanwhile, can be served on their own for breakfast, topped with a pat of butter and your favorite jam. (If you are planning to serve them with savory dishes like eggs and bacon, however, omit the sugar and vanilla bean.)

This elegant dish is perfect for brunch. The artichokes resemble flower petals, with the eggs, hollandaise, and thin slices of smoked salmon their centers. See page 296 for how-to photos of trimming artichokes.

This is a wonderful example of a vegetarian dish that isn’t at all compromised by its lack of meat. We scatter artichoke leaves over the surface of the pizza so you get the flavor of artichoke in every bite. The mild flavor of the stracchino contrasts nicely with the bitterness of the artichokes.

It takes a lot of olive oil to make these artichokes, but that’s what gives them their buttery texture and delicious flavor. The good news is that you can use the oil a second time for the same purpose. For this recipe you want to use baby artichokes. If you use the bigger artichokes that are commonly found in grocery stores, you’ll have to remove the choke before braising the artichokes and the final result won’t be quite as pretty. If you like sweetbreads, make a double batch and use half for the Veal Sweetbreads Piccata with Artichokes (page 239), one of the stars on our secondo menu.

I love the way the funky flavor of artichokes complements the mild flavor of buricotta cheese in these crostini. The currant and pine nut relish on top of the buricotta adds a touch of sweetness and acidity, and a little mint pesto livens up the whole story. The result: one of the most popular offerings at the Mozzarella Bar, and one I always recommend to vegetarians.

These make a wonderful addition to any summer salad or antipasto. They can also be served as a side dish with roasted or grilled lamb.

The batter for this cake is much like that for a biscuit; the chilled butter is cut in rather than creamed to produce a tender crumb. This recipe was developed by Emily Donahue for Rosey’s Coffee and Tea in Hanover, New Hampshire.