Easter

This decadent dessert delivers the flavor of a certain beloved Easter candy in the form of an elegant tart.

Pickled eggs, vibrantly colored and flavored with assorted vegetables and spices, are an upgrade to standard hard-boiled Easter eggs and make for a delicious holiday appetizer.

All that sour cream keeps these biscuits super moist and tender—they reheat well, even after sitting out for hours (pop back into 350°F oven for 5 minutes).

Who says that Pimm's is just for Pimm's Cups? Add Champagne, and it becomes an especially refreshing punch. Pimm's was created in the 1840s by an English oyster bar owner, and it became one of the most popular beverages in England. The exact recipe is a secret, but we do know that it is a gin-based liqueur flavored with spices and fruit. It is generally consumed in the Pimm's Cup with ginger ale and a fancy fruit garnish. This party punch takes it one step farther, letting it macerate with fruit and then adding Champagne rather than soda.

When I put these ingredients in my rice cooker, I knew the flavors would complement each other, but I wondered what the dish would look like. It was lovely! The soft, melting goat cheese mingled with the asparagus and creamy eggs. The frittata makes a great light supper or lunch dish; serve it with a fruit salad.

This risotto is dotted with beautiful green spring vegetables and makes a lovely vegetarian lunch or dinner. Delicious with a roasted beet and arugula salad, it's simple to make. There is no arduous stirring; the rice cooker takes care of everything.

This is an ode to Spain, a culture totally infatuated with the glories of asparagus. Here the green spears are paired with a classic Basque tomato-pepper relish called pipérade, simple poached eggs, and grits. One of these things has no place in Spain, but you can take the boy out of Georgia but you...well, you know.

While it’s still rhubarb season don’t miss the chance to bake it into pretty pink galettes.

Who says gremolata has to have parsley and lemon? No one who's tried this crunchy Thai influenced riff.

Sprouting wild rice is a simple and delicious way to enjoy this amazing food completely raw. The process of sprouting wild rice is called "blooming" because the seeds actually unfold, very much like little petals, revealing the pale, tender insides. It's a really fun thing to watch, however slowly, and it's groovy to eat something you've seen transform over a few days. This salad combines fresh springtime tastes and textures, all sauced up with a delicious dressing featuring bright lemon and spicy mustard. The herbs add the final layer of flavor, making this a salad that truly tastes alive! Because the rice is sprouted, it is very sweet, requiring salt in the salad—make sure to season it well to suit your own taste.

Spring is abundant with greens of all types, both wild and cultivated. You never know what might show up at your market in any given week. It just so happened that I was able to get pepper y watercress, wild stinging nettles, and sour sorrel at the same time. I love the idea of a watercress or nettles soup, but it always leaves me wanting acid, which inevitably turns the vibrant green soup to a drab olive. Naturally sour sorrel solves this by adding brightness without acid to balance the flavor. If you have trouble finding nettles, just use more watercress, or substitute arugula, mizuna, or dandelion.

I admit that I'm hard on sugar snap peas. I get disappointed when they suck, of course, but I also get grumpy when they're anything less than perfect—unblemished, super sweet, and not a bit starchy. That's the curse of keeping high standards, I suppose: you're so rarely satisfied. When at last I do find perfect snap peas, I make this salad. I leave them raw—only the finest snap peas can be this delightful without a dunk in boiling water—and accentuate their flavor with little more than a lemony dressing and mint. If you'd like, you could add some creamy goat cheese in blobs or good old burrata alongside.