Text: Daria Bigun
When the days get longer and the street smells like spring it's time to diversify your diet. Seasonal vegetables, fruits and greens appear in the markets, and we tell you what you can do with them. Recall that the WHO recommends eating more than four hundred grams of vegetables and fruits every day.
Chicken with spinach and white wine
Spinach contains protein, fiber and vitamins - great for a side dish. The small leaves of young spinach can be eaten raw, while the larger ones are good steamed or stewed.
Ingredients:
2 large chicken breast fillets
2 large handfuls of spinach
200 ml dry white wine
15 sprigs of thyme
3 large cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon ground paprika
5 tablespoons of butter
salt pepper
Preparation:
Rub the chicken fillet with paprika, salt and pepper. Peel and chop the garlic and thyme.
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet and fry the chicken over medium heat - about three minutes on each side. Reduce heat, add remaining oil, garlic and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes.
Pour wine into the pan, bring to a light boil and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add spinach, wait for it to decrease in size, pepper and salt.
Before serving, the chicken with spinach can be poured over the sauce that is left in the pan.
Pea soup with spinach, mint and cilantro
The bright green spring soup seems to be packed with vitamins. True, we remember that seasonal vitamin deficiency does not exist (and people with real vitamin deficiency need treatment more serious than soup) - so we recommend this dish rather to raise the mood.
Ingredients:
300 g fresh or frozen peas
450 g spinach
a couple of mint sprigs
small bunch of cilantro
1 onion
2 potatoes
100 g fresh cherry tomatoes or a small package of dried
1.5 tablespoon butter
650 ml vegetable broth
half lemon
1 teaspoon olive oil
60 ml 30% cream
salt pepper
Preparation:
If there are no sun-dried tomatoes, you can cook them in the oven. It needs to be heated to 100 degrees, put cherry tomatoes cut in half on a baking sheet with parchment and bake for three hours, stirring every hour. You can cook more and store the stock in an airtight container.
Dice the onion and potatoes. Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, potatoes and stir constantly for 3-5 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock to the pot and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
Pour the peas into a saucepan with vegetables and cook the mixture over low heat for several minutes. The peas should be soft.
Add spinach to a saucepan with all the ingredients and remove from heat. Stir and wait until the spinach withers slightly.
Beat the soup with a blender until smooth, gradually adding finely chopped mint and cilantro. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Serve the soup warm or cold, after adding cream to the plate and garnish with dried tomatoes.
Napoleon with spinach, wild garlic leaves and cabbage
Multi-layered pie, but not sweet, but with seasonal herbs and cream cheese. The combo of wild garlic, spinach and cabbage is perhaps one of the freshest and most unexpected.
Ingredients:
500 g puff pastry
500 g spinach
300 g of wild garlic leaves
1 head of young cabbage
1 small onion
2 tablespoons butter
300 g cream cheese
1 egg
salt pepper
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a thin layer and cut into four equal rectangles. Pierce each of them with a fork, brush with an egg and bake for 15 minutes.
Wash and sort out the wild garlic, cut into thin strips. Remove the top leaves from the cabbage, cut the head in half, remove the stump and chop the cabbage.
Peel and dice the onion.Add butter to a preheated saucepan and fry the onions for three minutes.
Add spinach, wild garlic and cabbage to the pan. Stir constantly and cook for 15 minutes.
Transfer the vegetable mass to a bowl, add the cream cheese, season with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.
Grease three cakes with a filling of cheese and herbs, put them on top of each other and cover with the fourth cake. Heat the cake in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
Baked radish salad
Radish is one of the main spring plants, which can be loved at least for its bright pink color. In addition, it contains a number of beneficial trace elements: potassium, magnesium, iron and fiber.
Ingredients:
20 radishes
2 tablespoons olive oil
100 g of corn salad
half a cup of pine nuts
4 tablespoons sour cream
6 sprigs of mint
salt pepper
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees and line the baking sheet with parchment.
Cut the radish in half, sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt, drizzle with olive oil and stir. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
Take out and cool the radish. Finely chop the mint leaves and mix with the sour cream and the remaining olive oil. Add salt and pepper.
Place the corn salad on plates and add the radishes. Drizzle with the dressing and sprinkle with pine nuts.
Puff ears with basil
The aromatic basil is reminiscent of travel to Italy, and adding it to dishes is always a good idea. However, a few leaves are enough for flavor, so a bunch of greens can be mixed - for example, from basil, spinach and sorrel.
Ingredients:
1 sheet of puff pastry
1 bunch of basil with other herbs
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons olive oil
coarse salt
Preparation:
Mix basil leaves, other herbs, garlic and olive oil in a blender until smooth.
Roll out the puff pastry in a mold (about 30 by 40 centimeters) and distribute the green puree over the entire surface. Roll the dough into a roll on both sides, moving towards the middle.
Wrap the roll with cling film and send to the freezer for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 210 degrees. Cut the roll into 20 slices ("ears") 1-1.5 cm thick. Arrange on a greased baking sheet, salt and bake for 15 minutes.
Avocado mousse with smoked salmon
The exotic avocado has long been a common fruit that is added to soups, salads and desserts. In the spring, we advise you to buy avocados from South Africa, where their season begins in April.
Ingredients:
200 g smoked salmon
a few sprigs of green onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of half a lime
salt pepper
4 ripe avocados
juice of half a lime
a bunch of chervil (wild parsley), can be replaced with regular
3 natural yoghurts
Preparation:
To make an avocado mousse: cut the fruit in half, mix the pulp with yogurt, parsley, half lime juice, salt and pepper. Put in a large container, cover with cling film and send to the refrigerator.
Chop smoked salmon finely, mix with chopped onion, olive oil, juice of half a lime and pepper.
Divide the chilled avocado mousse into four cups, placing smoked salmon slices on top. Serve with fresh bread.
Cocotte eggs with sorrel and goat cheese
Sorrel is not only about soup from childhood. This herb perfectly complements a salad, and in combination with goat cheese and eggs will be an invigorating and at the same time tender breakfast.
Ingredients:
8 fresh eggs
100-120 g sorrel
goat cheese
a tablespoon of butter
8 teaspoons sour cream
salt pepper
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 240 degrees. Wash the sorrel, remove hard stems. Melt some butter in a saucepan and simmer the sorrel over low heat for about three minutes.
Arrange the sorrel into molds (cocotte makers), break two eggs into each, season with salt and pepper, add a few pieces of goat cheese and two tablespoons of sour cream.
Fill a tall baking dish halfway with water, carefully place the tins with eggs in it and bake in a water bath in the oven
7-10 minutes. Serve with tomato salad.
Rhubarb puff
Rhubarb is a vegetable, but it can be used in dishes traditionally prepared with fruits.It is sweet and sour and refreshing - a real taste of spring.
Ingredients:
250 g puff pastry
200 g rhubarb
2 tablespoons cane sugar
1 egg
pinch of cinnamon
powdered sugar
Preparation:
Cut the rhubarb into 5-7 cm pieces, sprinkle with cinnamon, 1.5 tablespoons of sugar, stir and leave for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Roll out the dough, cut into small rectangles. Place rhubarb stalks in the center of each, sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Grease the edges of the puffs with a beaten egg.
Bake for 15 minutes. Garnish with powdered sugar before serving
Asparagus pasta
A complete dinner without difficulties in preparation is pasta with vegetables. If you are tired of tomatoes and broccoli over the winter, we advise you to switch to fresh asparagus - especially since its thin stems cook very quickly.
Ingredients:
400 g of any paste
1 bunch of fresh green asparagus
1 bunch of fresh white asparagus
8 sun-dried tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
2 bunches of arugula
4 sprigs of chopped basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan
salt pepper
Preparation:
Prepare the pasta, slightly undercooking.
Cut white and green asparagus into pieces and cook in salted water for five minutes.
Chop sun-dried tomatoes finely. Chop the head of garlic, stir in olive oil in a large saucepan. Add ready-made pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, half of the basil, stir and let simmer for five minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally. Add asparagus.
Mix the remaining basil with a couple of tablespoons of water, in which the asparagus was cooked, olive oil and a tablespoon of Parmesan, and pepper. Add this sauce to the pasta.
Rhubarb and strawberry drink
Lemonade without lemon can be made a hit at a children's party, or you can enjoy it over an evening TV series instead of wine.
Ingredients:
4 glasses of water
8 medium rhubarb stalks
100-150 g strawberries
half a glass of sugar
2 tablespoons honey
juice and zest of one orange
a couple of thyme sprigs (optional)
Preparation:
Combine water, sugar, honey, orange juice and chopped zest in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and keep on the stove for another 7-10 minutes.
Peel the rhubarb from hard fibers, cut into small pieces and send to a saucepan. Add thyme, bring to a boil, then remove from heat and cool.
Heat again over low heat, add strawberries, bring to a boil, and then let cool at room temperature.
PHOTOS: zoryanchik - stock.adobe.com, noirchocolate - stock.adobe.com, FomaA - stock.adobe.com, katharinarau - stock.adobe.com, shersor - stock.adobe.com, sarsmisr - stock.adobe.com, tataks - stock.adobe.com, ricka_kinamoto - stock.adobe.com, Africa Studio - stock.adobe.com, 5ph - stock.adobe.com, julie208- stock.adobe.com