Spring Has Sprung!(er)

We loved the ideas you gave us for making a spring meal! As you can imagine, we had a hard time narrowing it down again. While we loved Kristie’s ham idea, we decided to save ham for Easter Day. Brunch or tea sandwiches also sounded very springy to us, but ultimately, we riffed on Sue’s and Amy’s suggestions to make grilled lamb chops with mango salsa, baby red potatoes with rustic pesto, and roasted asparagus. For dessert, Ben went rogue and followed his heart, rather than a reader’s suggestion, to make banana pudding.

We hold these truths to be self-evident. Lamb chops are delicious. Ben wasn’t the only one gnawing the bones. This recipe, in particular, embodies spring… mint, lemon zest… it’s hard to imagine springifying this dish any further! But, wait! When you add mango salsa with mint, red onion and lime, there’s just no beating it. We don’t spring for lamb chops often (as they cost an arm and a leg) but when we do, we never regret it!

Grilled Lamb Chops with Mango Salsa

For lamb chops:

6 lamb chops (trimmed and frenched)

1 1/2 tablespoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1-2 tablespoons finely chopped mint leaves

Zest of one lemon

3 tablespoons olive oil

For mango salsa:

1 mango, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1-2 tablespoons finely diced red onion

1 lime, zested and juiced

2 tablespoons finely chopped mint

Pinch of salt

Make mango salsa by combining all ingredients, and set aside.

Preheat a grill to medium-high heat. Combine salt, pepper, mint, lemon zest, to make herbed salt. Rub lamb chops with herbed salt and drizzle with olive oil. Grill chops, turning once, until medium rare, about 4 minutes per side. Let rest a few minutes and serve with mango salsa.

Baby Red Potatoes with Rustic Pesto

2 pounds baby red potatoes

1 1/2 cup fresh spring herbs (mint, basil, parsley, or whatever you like)

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 

1/4 cup pistachios

1 garlic clove

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt

Place potatoes in pot or pan, in salted cold water. Bring water to boil, reduce heat, and cook 15-20 minutes, until potatoes yield easily when poked with a fork, and drain.

Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor, until coarse paste forms. If, for some reason, your mini chopping apparatus isn’t working quite right, and you have large chunks of herbs and nuts, call it rustic pesto.

Toss hot, cooked potatoes with rustic pesto, adding salt, and/or maybe a little butter to taste.

Roasted Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, bottoms trimmed

Olive oil

Salt

Preheat oven to 450º. Place asparagus in single layer on sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Roast 15-20 minutes until tender and slightly browned.

Banana Pudding

1 5.1 oz. package instant vanilla pudding mix

3 cups cold milk

1/2 box ‘Nilla wafers

1 small tub Cool Whip

2 bananas, sliced

Mix pudding with milk, according to package directions. Place 1/2 of ‘Nilla wafers in the bottom of a serving bowl. Slice a banana into disks on top of wafers. Dollop half of pudding on top of banana slices. Add remaining half of ‘Nilla wafers, another banana, sliced, and the rest of the pudding. Top with Cool Whip. While eating, exclaim, repeatedly, how much better life is when there is dessert.

Much as I wish we were ready to socialize and be with family and friends for Easter, we’re not quite there yet. Anyway, the spring ritual we miss as much as any other, is Passover. Though we are not Jewish, we have always felt honored when included in our Jewish friends’ religious observances, celebrations and meals. We particularly enjoy Passover Seders because the story is known to us. We participate in the recounting of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt, we eat, we enjoy old friends, and often make new ones.

At one Seder dinner we attended when Ben was 7 or 8, I realized (too late) that I should have given Ben a pre-dinner snack. There are rituals and questions (usually for the children to answer) that accompany each part of the meal, which begins after sundown. We went around the table, reading different parts of the script, as Ben grew more and more impatient for the wonderful food that he could smell. 

“Who is the unseen guest?” our hostess asked. None of the Jewish children answered. She asked again. Some paper scripts rustled, but still, no one supplied the correct answer of the Prophet Elijah.

Finally, Ben could take the waiting no more. “It’s Jesus. Turn to the last page. Let’s eat.” 

I was mortified, and the next three seconds of silence felt like an eternity to me, before the room erupted in laughter. Our hostess graciously told Ben that his answer would be great for the next holiday, and the man sitting across from me quietly dubbed it the “best Seder ever.”

I am happy to say that we have been invited back since, so it seems that no permanent offense was taken. I’m glad that Ben understood that it was a religious occasion, but I’ve learned my lesson. Pre-Seder snacking is imperative for Ben.

We have a year’s worth of cancellations and regrets that have piled up on spent calendar pages. Among these is a Seder dinner with friends, and now we know we can leave it to Ben, master of inter-faith relations.