What's in season for April??

I was asked to put together a few vegetable recipes that everyone can use to accompany any protein main entree that you are eating. These are very simply and quick veggie recipes. Right now, Asparagus and Artichokes, Sweet Onions and a plethora of other veggies are in season, so eat up.

Roasted asparagus

1 bunch of asparagus

1 clove of garlic minced

Fresh ground pepper

Celtic salt ( this is a very powerful salt, you do not need a lot to get great taste from this salt)

Extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the asparagus and trim the bottoms. You can do this one of two was. 1^st hold asparagus between both hands and snap, this will break at the natural point of the asparagus or you can just cut the bottom 1 inch off. Mince the garlic and set aside. In a cookie sheet or baking dish, add the asparagus and garlic drizzle oil over stalks and add fresh ground pepper and Celtic salt to taste. Mixed together with your hands and lay out stalks so they are not on top of each other. Roast in the oven for 8 minutes until just tender.

Artichokes – When you are buying artichokes make sure all the leaves are closed and tight to the core. If they are open and the choke appears to be blooming that is a sign of age of the artichoke. Wash the artichokes and trim the base. Put in a pot and add water a little bit of salt, 1 lemon squeezed into the water then drop the lemon into the water and bring water to a boil. Cover and boil for 35-45 minutes or until the base of the choke can be pierced with a fork.  Drain the chokes and serve.

Zucchini and Cauliflower are not in season in April but you can still get some good tasting ones this time of year.

Zucchini – You can do a couple different things with zucchini. I love to grill it or you can roast it. If you want to grill zucchini, take it and cut it length wise into thin slices. Place slices into a pan and add minced garlic, pepper and salt and olive oil. Get the grill hot and lay slices on the grill. Grill about 3 minutes on each side or until you get good grill marks. The grill should be very hot before you put the zucchini on. If you want to roast zucchini, cut in half length wise, then cut into 1 inch pieces width wise. Put on a cookie sheet or baking sheet add garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and put in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. The zucchini should be browned and easily pierced with a fork.

Cauliflower – Since cauliflower is such a dense vegetable you can actually make rice out of it and use that in place of grain rice. You can also mash it and use it in place of mashed potatoes.  To make cauliflower rice, first cut into small florets and steam it briefly (if you are going to use this rice in a soup or part of a dish that will need rice to simmer in it you will not steam the cauliflower at all). Take the florets and run through a food processor with the grating attachment and you will have cauliflower rice. If you want to make mashed cauliflower, cut florets and place in boiling water. Cook until you can pierce a floret with a fork. Drain cauliflower and put back in the pot, add fresh ground pepper and salt and a little bit of heavy cream and mash either by hand or with an electric mixer. Use this as a side dish to any protein.