Ep 42: Spring Veggie Vibes in The Empty Nest Kitchen
Let's celebrate the arrival of spring by digging into a variety of spring veggies and herbs, including artichokes, asparagus, and fresh chives. You'll hear tips on how to prepare and cook these ingredients, with a bit of practical advice. And be sure to register for my free cooking class sponsored by AARP Maryland on April 5, where you'll learn to cook eggs with ricotta and fresh chives, cappuccino chip muffins, and super crispy oven potatoes.
Register for the April 5 AARP Maryland cooking class HERE.
And be sure to visit EmptyNestKitchen.com and sign up for my weekly newsletter filled with super practical cooking advice and free resources.
Links from this episode
Follow Christine Van Bloem on Instagram @theemptynestkitchen and on Facebook @emptynestkitchen
Learn more about Menopause Meal Plans
Sign up for my FREE 10 Essential Tools for the Empty Nest Kitchen
Rate, review & subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Want to show this podcast some love? Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!
Click here to view our show on Apple Podcasts then click on Listen on Apple Podcasts. This will open your podcast player.
If you want to get my latest episodes, be sure to click Subscribe.
Scroll to the bottom then select your star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Then click on Write a Review. I’d love to hear what you enjoyed most about this episode or our podcast in general!
-
Oh, happy day. It's Christine here, and as I sit here at my kitchen table recording this, I can hear the birds chirping, and I know there are fat, fat squirrels running around the backyard. I'm looking at the first Cynthia Bush. It is. Spring. It is spring finally, and it wasn't even a bad winter. It just feels so good. And you know that right now you are getting bombarded with all of the spring veggies a person could ever want. But what I thought I'd do for you today is kind of go through what the spring veggies are and a couple of things that you can do with them. Now, if you subscribe to my newsletter, you should have gotten one in your email this morning. Telling you exactly this, what to do, how to make it work for you, how to make it even y. But if not, you can go to empty nest kitchen.com and sign up. I just send one out every week full of helpful tips and tricks and all of that good stuff. But let's get started, shall we?
Speaker 2:1:34
When I lived in New York City before I got married, I lived on the Upper East side and really upper, really east. It was not where everybody posh was, but I would get off at the 86th Street subway station and I would go work out. New York Sports Club. Woo-hoo. And then I would stroll up Lexington Avenue and stop at this little gourmet market. I think it was between like 87th and 88th, and it was just when food was starting to peak my interest. Right? So this is very early nineties. And I remember the first time I saw an artichoke, I had never had an artichoke before until, uh, my roommate, and I'm gonna put that loosely, but my roommate had invited me over to her boyfriend's and it was a whole. It was a whole tale someday, I'll tell you the whole thing. And they had artichokes and I was so blown away by this because my south central PA upbringing never had artichokes, particularly fresh artichokes ever in my life, ever. Right. And I had one at his apartment and he was a much older fellow, I mean much older fellow. And it was kind of mind blowing to me. So I would walk up to this little gourmet market and teeny tiny, and they would have in the spring these ginormous, beautiful globe artichokes. And when you get a really good one, it's the size of like a Chihuahuas head. They are gigantic for a vegetable. And I remember I was much skinnier in these days, but I would buy one if I was feeling really rich. I would spring for two. I would walk the rest of the way to my apartment and then I would steam the artichoke or the artichokes and dip it in. There was a salad dressing called Blanchard and Blanchard. I would get the Blanchard and Blanchard, uh, mustard vinegarette and I would drag those leaves through and eat that. And that would be my dinner. I mean, my how times have changed? No wonder I was so thin back then, but. Knowing how to prepare in artichoke is not really that hard, but it is something you have to learn because they do have lots of little thorns and things that you have to work around.
Speaker 3:4:07
And this was way before culinary school and way before, heaven forbid the internet, but I learned to take a pair of scissors and go around and snip the top part off of every leaf so that the thorn would be removed. Then I would take a knife and we'll pretend that it was sharp, but I'm sure it was from ikea. And dull is, oh, I can't even tell you. And you would cut the top off, maybe the top half inch or the HA top inch. So you would have a nice flat top, and then I would cut the stem off, but I would trim the very bottom of the stem and throw that in the water to cook, because that was always super, super delicious. Then I'd throw it in a pot. It would rest flat on the bottom. I'd put maybe an inch in and I would pop a lid on and simmer it so that it would steam. And I'm thinking it was like 20, 30 minutes that it would go. And I would try to pull one of the outermost leaves off, give it a scrape. You kinda scrape it against the teeth, your top teeth to pull that off. To see if it was ready. Then I pluck that little stem out, cut that up, eat that, and have it with my dressing, and I would just dip and scrape and dip and scrape. And it would go that way until you would get to the choke, which is kind of the fuzzy part that rests on top of the heart that we know. And you would cut that out and then you would cut the heart and eat that. And it was just so. So fantastic. And it was a really economical meal, even though it felt like I was spending a fortune because the artichoke itself was pricey. But I loved that and that's how I learned about artichokes. But you can also buy baby artichokes, and I just wanna say 30 plus years later. Our artichoke selection is a little better, but you can buy baby artichokes and we do something we call turning with those where you take a knife and you really, you turn the artichoke as you are cutting off all of the outermost. Layers around the bottom, the top. You kind of work that through. You take the top off, you dig out the choke Zumba. There you are, you've got the whole thing ready for you. So when I do artichokes, if I'm doing a whole artichoke, I go super rustic and really artichokes for me, it's for about the next month. That is a real spring thing for the fresh artichokes, at least where I live here in Maryland. But of course, you know, you can get frozen artichokes and you can get marinated artichokes and you can get, um, canned artichokes. So if you like, if the whole. Big singular artichoke is a little daunting for you. Get some of those, and maybe here's an idea. I avoid the marinated artichokes unless I'm putting them on a, a cheeseboard or charcuterie plate or something along those lines, just because they have a lot of flavor. So I don't typically, if I'm doing a pasta or something, I don't typically. Wanna have that marinade flavor in that if you do, awesome, go for it. Super easy. But if you don't go with a canned, drain them or go with a frozen. But if you're feeling brave, go ahead and snag some of those. Baby artichokes when you see'em and look up how to turn them, they're really easy to do, I promise. Make sure your knife is sharp. Take your knife to the sharpener. You know you should do it, but make sure your knife is sharp and give that a try. Or even a little Holland days. Oh, I know it's so naughty. But a little Holland days especially, um, if you're making it from scratch and you know, you can do it in a blender, it takes no time if you're doing it in a blender, but dipping those artichoke leaves in that Holland days and giving it that scrape on your teeth, ugh, it is a delight.
Speaker 4:8:13
All righty, so moving on. We all know the big spring kahuna, and that is asparagus. You can't have spring without asparagus. And truthfully, even though I never had it growing up, found out later, my mom hated it. Um. I love asparagus. I actually really love it roasted, most of all, and you can't over roast it because it gets a little soggy on you. But asparagus is easy breezy, and I do not love the little skinny, skinny asparagus. I want a fat spear of asparagus. You can take a veggie peeler after you cut the very bottom off, maybe a quarter inch, right? When you buy this, if your grocery store is doing the work, they're gonna have it in a tray that has a little bit of water in the bottom of it, and that keeps the asparagus nice and fresh, just like fresh flowers, right? So when you get home, you can. Cut the very bottom off quarter inch. And then I'll take, if I have those big chunky spears, I will take a veggie peeler and peel maybe the bottom three, four inches off just to make it nice and tender. Because sometimes when they're thicker like that, it can have a little tougher outside. Now do not, and I repeat, do not try to do that with the pencil like asparagus, because you're gonna end up with nothing. That is gonna be fine. When you get home, if you're not going to eat it that day. I do like to store it just like it's flowers, and I will, after I cut that bottom off, pop it in a glass with maybe an inch of cold water and store it in the fridge. That's gonna help keep it nice and fresh for you. So what can you do with asparagus? I still remember my mother-in-law making an asparagus soup one Easter. She had gotten the recipe out of the times and. It was delicious. I remember it was really good, and that was when I was first exposed to asparagus, right? It doesn't have to be anything complicated. You would saute some onions or shallots. Uh, I would probably do butter, but maybe even a little olive oil, saute that till it gets nice and soft, not brown. Then throw in asparagus and cook the asparagus until it's tender, not crisp, tender. But tender, then I pop it in a blender, chicken stock, or you can cook it in with the chicken stock and then blender. Maybe you enrich it with a tiny bit of cream at the end, salt, pepper. Very, very simple stuff. But this is the time of year to do it. So if you've got some asparagus and you wanna add it into say, some pasta. You can chop your asparagus and be a little fancy. Chop it on an angle, chop it on the bias so that it looks just a little nicer for you, and throw it into your pasta water when your pasta is cooking during the last minute, and that is gonna cook it just enough for you so that you don't have to dirty two pots. Easy breezy. Now make sure you're going to eat that right away, because otherwise you don't want your asparagus to keep on cooking, right? You want it to stop the cooking process. So in a professional kitchen, a lot of times what we do is we have a big bowl of ice water, lots of ice, and we would, uh, pop it. Straight from the boiling salted water. And I like that water to taste like the ocean straight from the boiling salted water directly into the ice bath. That shocks it, and that stops the cooking process, so it helps it retain its green color and its. Crispness. It's a, it's a really good way to go with it. I have roasted it and then served it with some, um, pan roasted or pan fried prosciutto. No need to add any fat to the pan. I just crisp it up a little. I'll dice it, crisp it there, throw it over a poach egg. I might do a little lemon zest. Holland days, of course, is the way to go, but Holland Days is really a special occasion. Treat with all the butter that's in that you have to be really judicious. But roast asparagus makes a great bed for poached eggs. So I know you know all the things about asparagus. Just a couple of hints or ideas for you to try there.
Speaker 5:12:41
Now moving on, you know. That a fresh herb is, will wait in my heart, and mine are some of mine that are perennials. They come back every year, are starting to pop their heads up, which is glorious. I even have my chives, I mean, my chives. Boy, I love planting chives because they just come back. Year after year, after year. And you don't have to do a darn thing to'em except clean them up at the end. I love to run out there in my bare feet, snip some chives, bring them in over some eggs, over some pasta, over some anything. Um, if I'm doing like a bruschetta or sometimes I'll do an avocado toast for lunch, I just give a little snip snip snip. Ugh. So good. So if you have herbs that are coming in and you can even buy herbs ready to plant. At your grocery store. Now they're gonna be the most basic. I have a mint plant on my window sill right now. It's still a little early to go out there and plant it, but I bought it at the grocery store. I used what I needed and then I've been nursing it for the past month so that it, when it's time to plant, I've got it ready to go. But any of your perennials, oregano. Chives. I think thyme, maybe a perennial as they start to poke through. Lavender, I believe, is a perennial, uh, as they start to poke through. I love throwing them into anything that I can find now. I will definitely have my summer herbs coming. I do have to plant rosemary again. My rosemary did not survive the winter, so I've gotta plant that one again. Basil. Don't even think about planting fresh basil until you are a hundred percent certain that there is no frost in your future. You really have to be sure of that because a cold night will take your basil out. But whatever you've got coming up, there are so many things you can do with fresh herbs and dried herbs. I love a dried her right? But with the spring and with the things coming back out again, I do tend to throw more into the fresh herb camp because I just, I just think they're so wonderful. But because they're fresh, it's super important that you're adding them in. If you're doing a long cook. They've gotta go in during the last 15 minutes, or you're just gonna sap everything good out of them and they're gonna lose their bright flavor that they would normally bring to you. So. Always use fresh herbs at the end, but you have a bunch of things you could do here. You can make a quick little infused olive oil if you want it. Now, there are food safety things here. I know putting garlic in olive oil and keeping it can lead to botulism. I don't know enough on the topic other than to know I purchase it from somebody that I know is following all the food safety protocols. But if I went to make a chive oil, I would take the chives, I would warm them in the oil, and then let them set in it for a while, for maybe an hour or something. Strain it out, and then you've got a lovely little chai oil. You can do that with oregano. You can do that with time, you can do it with whatever you like, but a little urban fused oil, and don't make a ton of it. Just do enough that you'll use in the next couple of weeks. But a little of that drizzled on. A dish. Oh, so good. And make sure you look up. You can Google and I'll see if I can put something on the Empt Nest Kitchen website for you with some guidelines on what to do. You can always do a little herb bouquet, and I will tell you, I'll do this for a super stew and I'll take. A whole bunch of them. I have cotton kitchen string that I just keep behind the stove. I'll tie it up, toss it in, and by doing it that way, it's really easy to fish'em out and you're using the stems and everything. There can be a lot of flavor in the stems, but for example, you're never gonna chomp on a times stem. It's. Wood, right? It's like chewing on a toothpick. We're not interested in that. So tying them up, pulling'em out nice and easy, and of course a sprinkle of fresh herbs right before you serve just about anything is fantastic. Every year for about the past 20 years, I've been declaring this will be the year of parsley. And I'm bound and determined to make this happen at some point because fresh flat leaf or Italian parsley is really terrific. It does have wonderful flavor, and it's not like the curly parsley that I grew up with. I remember we would occasionally go out to eat, and I grew up not too far away from Pennsylvania, Dutch country, and. You always got a bright red spiced apple ring and a little sprig of parsley, and my dad always made me eat the parsley because he said it would give me fresh breath. I think he was trying to tell me something, but I'm not sure. But I always hated that fresh flat leaf parsley. Much better flavor for us.
Speaker 6:18:04
And those are just a couple of examples of gorgeous fresh things that are coming out this spring. So I will tell you that I am doing a class this Saturday, April 5th at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, and that is with A A RP Maryland. And this is a free class, A A RP sponsors this. I, I don't know if you've ever done this, but they are so much fun. It's not just because I love teaching them so much. We get really big crowds for it. It is a lot of fun. But I am doing my eggs with ricotta and fresh chives. It's one of the recipes. Class is an hour long. I'm gonna put a link in the show notes, or you can just Google A a RP. Cooking classes. They have tons of cooking classes all over the country, all sorts of different topics. But mine is gonna be Saturday the fifth. And I would love to have you there if you wanna learn a little about working with fresh Chives. There are a couple of other things on the menu as well. My famous cappuccino chip muffins, and I'm gonna, I have a little recipe I created that just makes four muffins. It's the perfect number of muffins.'cause empty nesters, we don't need a dozen muffins at all times. So I hope you can join me for that.
Speaker 7:19:20
And that's it for this week. So grab some fresh spring veggies, grab some gorgeous spring herbs, and of course I'll see you in the kitchen.
