Spring Eats: These light and delicious recipes will tingle your taste buds

Quinoa Asparagus Salad

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 15

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 1/2 cup water
• Pinch salt
• 1 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups shelled fresh English peas
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced at a diagonal
• 1/2 cup fresh dill
• 1/2 cup Italian parsley, or more to taste
• 1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted (optional, or sub with other nuts/seeds)
• Garnishes can include crumbled goat cheese, feta, sliced avocado, sunflower sprouts, pea shoots, flower petals or chive blossoms (optional)

Dressing

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• zest from 1 lemon
• 1/3 cups lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• pepper to taste

Instructions

Rinse the quinoa and place it in a pot with the water and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and allow it to simmer on low heat for 12-15 minutes. Turn off heat, and let sit covered for 5 -10 minutes, then uncover, fluff with a fork and let it cool.

While the quinoa is cooking, blanch the peas and asparagus in salted boiling water for a few minutes, until bright and tender. Rinse under cold water.

Place the cooled quinoa and blanched veggies in a bowl. Add the scallions, dill and almonds and give a toss. Add the oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir again.

Taste, adjust salt and lemon if needed. Flavors will mellow over time, so adding more at this step is advised if preparing ahead of time.

• Serve with garnishes.
• Taste immediately before serving and adjust salt and lemon again, if needed. Quinoa
• has a tendency to soak up flavor. Wait until serving to add cheese, sprouts or avocado.

Baked Fish with Lemon & Garlic

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 25

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 – 1 1/2 lbs cod, halibut, mahi mahi, haddock, snapper or sea bass
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• zest from one lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 large leek, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped preserved lemon (or sub zest from another lemon)
• 1 tablespoons fresh thyme
• 1/2 cup chicken or veggie broth or stock, more as needed
• 1/2 cup white wine (sub with broth and a squeeze of lemon)
• pinch salt and pepper
• 1 large bunch asparagus, cut into 1- to 2-inch pieces, tough ends removed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut cod into 4 pieces and pat dry. Place in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, thyme and zest and toss to coat well. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in oven-proof skillet, cast iron skillet or dutch oven. Add fennel and saute 5-7 minutes, stirring, cooking until tender. Add leeks and garlic and continue cooking, stirring until leeks are golden and tender. Add preserved lemon (or lemon zest), thyme, broth and white wine. Stir in salt and pepper, simmer on medium low heat until liquid has reduced by half and fennel is tender, about 5 minutes.

If fennel needs a bit longer, add another splash of broth and cover pan for a few minutes, letting it steam and get tender. Add asparagus, stir and cook for 2 minutes until asparagus turns bright green. If mixture seems dry, add another splash of broth (should be slightly wet — 1/4-1/2 inch liquid in the bottom of pan).

Nestle the fish in the pan, scraping excess marinade over the fish. Bake until fish is cooked through, 10-15 minutes, depending on thickness.

Top each piece of fish with a sprig of thyme and lemon wedge.

Serve on its own for a low-carb dinner, or serve with basmati rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice.

For a crispy golden crust on the fish, dredge in flour or bread crumbs and pan-sear.

Crispy Chicken with Artichoke Hearts

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 large artichokes, trimmed and sliced
• one lemon, zest and juice.
• 6 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp butter, divided
• 1 large leeks, sliced
• 2 cups tiny potatoes, sliced 1/4 thick
• 1 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
• 1/2 cup vermouth or white wine
• 1 Cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp whole grain mustard
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1/4 cup fresh tarragon, divided
• Mushrooms, ramps, pearl onions, English peas, fennel bulb (optional)

Instructions

To prep the artichokes, fill a medium bowl with 4 cups cold water and squeeze with the juice from the lemon. Artichokes brown easily, so work on one at a time as quickly as possible. Snap off all the hard out leaves using your fingers (save leaves). With a paring knife, trim off all the outer green skin around the base and stem, keeping the stem intact. Remove the yellowish soft leaves and use a spoon to gently scrape away the white or purple silk-like threads. Immediately place in the lemon water to prevent browning. Slice just before placing in the skillet.

Preheat oven to 425. Pat chicken dry and season with kosher salt and pepper. Heat 1 Tbsp butter and 1 tsp olive oil in a heavy bottom oven proof skillet over med high heat. Place chicken skin side down and sear until golden, about 5 minutes. Turn and brown undersides until golden, about 7-8 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside.

Drain some of the chicken fat, leaving about 1 Tbsp in the pan. Add 1 Tbsp butter. Add leeks, sliced artichokes, sliced potatoes and fennel seeds. Saute on medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until just soft. Add a generous pinch of Kosher salt and pepper.

Deglaze pan with vermouth or white wine. Reduce by half, about 4 minutes. Add stock, mustard and fennel seeds, half and half, half of the fresh tarragon and half of the zest. Stir, bring to a simmer and taste, adjusting salt and pepper. Nestle the chicken pieces into stew with skin sides up and roast in oven for 20-30 minutes, until golden and internal temp is 170 (160 for breasts). Broil for a couple minutes to get skin extra crispy, if desired.

Garnish with remaining lemon zest and fresh tarragon before serving.

Herby Chickpea Salad Sandwich

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Makes 2 extra-large sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 batch vegan chickpea salad (recipe below)
• 4 slices whole-grain bread (or bagels, sub wraps or gluten-free bread/wraps)
• 1 Tbsp Maille mustard
• 2 large lettuce leaves (red leaf, green leaf or romaine)
• 1 Turkish cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, shaved
• 4 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, sliced
• handful of sprouts (alfalfa, sunflower or daikon)

Vegan Chickpea Salad

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped dill (sub ⅛ cup fresh tarragon)
• 2 Tbsp whole grain mustard
• 1–2 Tbsp Vegan Mayo ( or regular, store-bought, sub 2–3 teaspoons olive oil)
• generous pinch salt and pepper

Instructions

Place chickpea salad ingredients in a medium bowl, mix and smash with a fork until well combined. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

To assemble the sandwiches, spread whole grain mustard on bread. Top with lettuce and a generous amount of the chickpea salad. Layer sliced cucumber, carrots, radishes and avocado.Top with a mound of sprouts and bread.