Spring Recipes

The inspiration for this dish comes via Sicily, where something similar was traditionally made for San Giuseppe’s Day; the crumbs are meant to represent sawdust from the ancient carpenter’s workshop. While cooking with sawdust seems almost too appropriate when talking about food waste, the seasoned, buttertoasted bread crumbs bear only the vaguest visual resemblance to wood shavings. You can customize this dish easily to taste using different cheeses or green vegetables. Roasted leftover asparagus or broccolini are excellent choices. If you like anchovies, add one with the garlic and red pepper flakes.

This recipe riffs on the rice pilaf my mother made when I was a kid. She caramelized onions and garlic, then added water with chicken bouillon to basmati rice and let it simmer away, covered until the magic moment when the lid could be removed. This version is delicate and uses simply water to plump the rice. Fresh spring herbs, citrus zest, cardamom, and currants enliven it. I like it alongside crispy-skin seared salmon with roasted available vegetables, and I can easily envision it wrapped inside tubes of pickled grape leaves with a dessert of fresh pecan baklava drenched in orange blossom syrup. In front of me now is a bowl of this rice plus a few olives from Good Faith Farm; I am perfectly satisfied.

I see a huge change in the local landscapes recently blackened and charred by fire. Once scars, these burned patches now hold the brightest and greenest tufts. Nature is resilient and so is our community. Thus the whole idea of spring: rebirth, regrowing, renewing life. I first made this panzanella salad on my 22nd birthday with my best friends from college. Now this recipe has cycled back to me as my 28th birthday looms, and I’ve made amendments as a reflection of the changing I’ve done throughout the years.