Easter

Season: May to July. Made with the reddish green stalks of main-crop or field rhubarb, this relish is quick and easy, involving much less cooking than a chutney would require. It is light, very fruity, and not too sweet. Delicious with curries, oily fish, chicken, and cheese and in sandwiches, it’s a versatile addition to the larder. Rhubarb, by the way, is very easy to prepare, but do take care to always remove the leaves, as they are poisonous.

We make this salad every Sunday at the restaurant. I like to cook the potatoes til they’re soft so the dressing can penetrate deeply. But the true secret to our potato salad is the Zatarain’s mustard we have shipped up from New Orleans (see Resources, page 175). Sure, you can use another coarse-grain mustard, but once you’ve had a real Creole mustard, nothing else will give you satisfaction.

When spring hits and the asparagus comes into season, I can’t wait to eat this simple potato salad. Because it’s made without mayonnaise, it can be held at room temperature where the flavors can really develop. It’s perfect picnic food. Once the asparagus goes out of season, try making it with a pound of green beans instead.

Garth and the girls and I went to Colorado one spring break and spent the week in the guesthouse of some friends. We skied all day and came home exhausted in the evenings. Our friends provided a chef for us, and it was great to come back to the cabin after a long day to a beautifully prepared meal. I had always made Cooked-to-Death Green Beans (page 130), but the chef made these green beans one night and we fell in love with them. (The girls also fell in love with the chef, who looked a little bit like Tom Cruise.) When we have veggie night, the girls always ask, “Are we having Tom Cruise?” You can imagine the looks we get from guests who’ve never been to our house on veggie night!

Fred once threatened to reveal Monsier Jean Charest’s dislike of beets to the world, along the lines of President George Bush’s broccoligate. “He stared at me while his goons were considering my removal—not funny, not funny at all.” This way of making beets is delicious. Fred prefers red beets; he finds the yellow ones taste like house-brand diet soda.

Try sorghum syrup in place of honey to make these simple glazed carrots. Lee's preferred brand is Kentucky Pure Cane Sweet Sorghum, available at bourbonbarrelfoods.com.

This dish is one of the first things I make once the Pacific salmon season has opened. It is the first sign that summer is near. Later in the summer, I make a similar dish with corn, zucchini, and tomatoes with fresh basil. Any combo of fresh, perfectly sweet, just-picked veggies will be a great complement to the fish. It’s especially important to buy wild salmon—even self-proclaimed “sustainable” salmon farms are dangerous because of the parasitic lice that thrive on farmed salmon; when the infested fish escape (a frequent occurrence), the lice threaten the wild salmon population. If wild salmon isn’t in season, use any sustainable fillet or steak that is of similar thickness. If available, use 1/4 cup chopped green garlic instead of the garlic cloves. And if you can find them, rainbow carrots are beautiful here.

This is one of my favorite ways to showcase the fresh and delicate flavors of spring: sweet peas, tender green garlic, and mint. Serve with crostini or fresh spring veggies as a dip (pictured), or spread it on sandwiches. You can also use fava beans in place of the peas, or use a combination. Truffle pecorino would also work well in this recipe.

Compared to cheesecake made primarily with cream cheese, this rendition of the American classic is notably light. We make it with Cowgirl Creamery (opposite page) fromage blanc, which is lower in fat than cream cheese, plus ricotta and mascarpone to enhance the texture. A thin layer of Cowgirl Creamery crème fraîche blankets the top. The result is an easy, elegant, lemony dessert to serve in slender slices with a fruit accompaniment, such as sugared berries, a raspberry sauce, or the strawberry-rhubarb compote suggested here.

Narsai David’s lamb marinated in pomegranate juice is famous in the San Francisco Bay Area from his days as a restaurant proprietor and popular caterer. Dennis Cakebread remembers that the first time he ever entertained at home, he prepared Narsai’s lamb. Brian has adapted the recipe slightly, reducing the marinade to create a basting glaze that accentuates the sweet-sour flavor of pomegranate. The dish is elegant and foolproof, so even a novice cook can look like a pro. Allow at least six hours for the lamb to marinate.

FLAVOR BOOSTERS This one-dish meal is a great example of how the bright notes of lemon (zest and juice) and parsley can help reduce the need for unwanted fat. The recipe is very adaptable; if you have other vegetables such as fresh spinach or snap peas on hand, add them to the couscous at the end. You can also substitute the leg and thigh meat from a rotisserie chicken.

WHY IT’S LIGHT This leaner take on a classic soup includes meatballs made with ground turkey instead of beef for less fat and fewer calories. To ensure the meatballs are juicy and flavorful, use dark-meat turkey with at least seven percent fat.

This is one of the soups that I think are best made with water rather than broth, so nothing interferes with the sweet, delicate flavor of the peas.

This salad is a new twist on the classic combo of melon and prosciutto. Grilled asparagus keeps a slight crunch and also has a smoky char to it that pairs with the creaminess and subtle flavor of mozzarella and the fruitiness of melon. To top it off: crumbled prosciutto. I’ve always loved the salty tang of prosciutto, but since I started baking thin slices of it to make brittle, crispy chips, my love has become a full-blown obsession; they just seem to make everything taste better.

The hardest part of this dish, these days, is finding fresh herring—which is astonishing, because a large percentage of the world’s supply is caught off our shores and shipped elsewhere. In the countries bordering the North Sea, however, it is celebrated, and if you can find it here—it’s in fish markets from time to time—this is a great treatment, an essential part of any smorgasbord, but also wonderful served with sour cream (“creamed herring”) and boiled potatoes. If the herring is whole, ask your fishmonger to fillet it for you.

Baccalà, or salt cod, has a long tradition on the Italian table, and since it traveled well, immigrants brought it with them to the New World, where they used it as barter as well as for cooking. (One need only notice how popular baccalà is in Caribbean cultures.) The Italian immigrants have made baccalà a big part of the Italian American table, especially around the holidays. This simple salad recipe will satisfy any baccalà nostalgia, holiday or no holiday.

I love dishes made from preserved codfish, and in the Veneto they make marvelous use of cod preserved by different methods. Baccalà is codfish that has been salted, and this is made into baccalà alla trevigiana, which I share with you here. Then there is stoccafisso, codfish that has been air-dried and that is used for baccalà manteccato, whipped with olive oil and garlic. Today salted cod—baccalà—is available in many supermarkets, and your fishmonger should carry it. It comes in boneless sides, and it is best to get center cuts, which are meatier and less salty. In any case, thorough soaking, as detailed in the recipe, is vital to the success of the dish. In Treviso, baccalà alla trevigiana is always served with Baked Polenta (page 111), and the combination of flavors and textures is so delicious I never break tradition. Do the preliminary cooking of the polenta the day before you cook the baccalà, and you can finish both in the oven at the same time.

I used the idea of the delicious brittle caramel topping that defines a crème brûlée on this bread pudding simply because I love it! You will need a propane or butane torch to caramelize the sugar that will top the delicious layers of toasted buttery bread with fresh mango held together by a fragrant custard. The sweet and sour flavors of the sauce go wonderfully with the richness of the custard and heighten the freshness of the sweet yellow fruit.