Asparagus & Ramps for Spring

A fresh dinner inspired by the Union Square Green Market

If you’re here, welcome to The Spring! And thank you for subscribing. This is meant to be a Spring of knowledge, recipes and tips on health, happiness, motherhood, and natural living. A peek into my life and the things I do to feel my best. Food, health and wellness play an integral role in my life, and I wanted to be able to share all of that in a deeper, and more meaningful way with all of you. In this space you’ll find everything from recipes that I’m currently loving, family meals we’re enjoying. New and healthy products and snacks and why I’m recommending them. In depth travel guides to my favorite destinations, and how to feel great while vacationing there, and so much more. Think of this like an old-school magazine, brimming with helpful and healthful tips and some fun musings and wisdom too. The kind of magazine you used to cut out little blurbs from and paste into journals or scrapbooks (if you’re a millennial like me)! I hope you share, save, and thoroughly love what you learn here, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to begin this journey with all of you!

Love,

Sabrina

Spring has returned and with it, my desire to cook big, delicious meals for all my family and friends. You know I love my vegetables and don’t like to pick favorites, but the season’s first asparagus and ramps are so delicate and fragrant and seem to inspire all many of my current recipes.

Last week, we had friends over for dinner on Saturday, I woke up early and hit my favorite stalls at the Union Square Green Market. I picked up bags of wild arugula, bunches of stubby asparagus and sprigs of ramps. After the kids’ little league games, I got to work washing and prepping the produce for dinner. The kitchen was abuzz all day, with little people coming through, munching on all the goodies. Just the way I like it.

As dinner approached, I steamed asparagus and then blanched it, until it was a perfect shade of Spring green, and seasoned it with lemon juice and zest, flaky sea salt and copious amounts of olive oil. I chopped and sauteed the ramps in ghee and grated garlic, and then added the white basmati rice I had been steaming on the side. While my husband was upstairs grilling, I piled the arugula and baby greens into a big salad bowl and made a simple mustard vinaigrette. Our friends arrived, and we all agreed it was one of my better meals. Even my older kids, who eagerly waited up to have a few bites of our dinner before bedtime.

I haven’t stopped thinking about the ramp rice or asparagus, and since you can still find them in abundance at the farmer’s market, I thought I would begin this newsletter with the recipes for both. I hope they inspire you to get in the kitchen on day or night this week and experience the joy of seasonal, healthy cooking.

Like all my recipes, these are meant to be non-intimidating and quick to prepare, and also inspire you to get more comfortable cooking beautiful, whole foods. If you mess up a measurement, or riff a little, that’s ok, it will still taste delicious, and I encourage it! After all, I learned to cook from my mom and grandmothers, all of whom employed the “pinch of salt” here and “dash of lemon there” method.

Enjoy!

Asparagus & Ramps for Spring

Recipes below!