Enjoying the simplicity of spring

My grandfather was an organic farmer before organic farming was cool. It wasn't his full-time job. Rather, he made the most out of his five acres of land after work and on weekends, hauling in giant bushels of crook-neck yellow squash, butter beans and tomatoes.

One of my favorite summertime memories was steak dinners on Saturday nights. The steaks were not the highlight, since he marinated them in red wine before grilling. Call me a purist, but it was unecessary. No, my favorite part of these dinners were the lima beans. Only he let them grow out of the green baby lima phase. He let them grow big and fat, turning into the starchy yellow butter beans I've grown to love. He served them simply, with salt and a generous helping of melted butter. 

Vegetables don't always have to be chopped, mashed, or stewed to be enjoyed. You can eat them in their original form, with minimal intervention, to grasp the full flavor. 

I remember my grandfather tossing tomatoes and cucumbers into the pool while we swam. They were freshly pulled from the garden. "Wash them off," he'd day. My grandmother would dunk them in the water, then bit into tomatoes as if they were apples. We'd follow her lead, and eat cucumbers the same way. Hey, it was the 80s!

When produce is fresh, it barely needs tampering with. The French understand this. Yes, they love butter. But many of their vegetable recipes don't call for much more than butter, salt, and pepper. Any why not? Yellow squash is delicious and should taste like yellow squash. Radishes should taste like radishes. Bok choy like bok choy.

Social media tends to post fantastical recipe videos, and anyone who reads this blog knows I am a sucker for a viral recipe. Perhaps in the winter, when we are holed up and seeking comfort food, it makes sense to create elaborate casseroles and slow-cooker recipes. It requires prep and a long list of ingredients, but is comforting and can often be made in bulk and frozen in portions.

However, viral videos can also take recipes too far, complicating simple best practices. In response, parody recipe videos flourish. Influencers purposefully bastardize the simplest dishes with unnecessary steps and ridiculous add-ons (marshallow creme for lasagna, anyone?). Other accounts provide hilarious voiceover commentary as amateur cooks create monstrous meals they deem trend-worthy. 

This spring, whether you are planting runner beans or broccoli, make an effort to actually taste the fruit of your labor. Take in the flavors you cultivated on your own soil, and savor it with just a bit of butter, salt and pepper. If you can grow a crop of butter beans until they are pale yellow and bursting with an almost mashed potato flavor, all you need is a little butter and salt. You'll thank me later.

Spring is synonymous with freshness, and your vegetables should be too!