I am a huge fan of spice, and finding a dish that I can make that delivers the spice is always a welcome affair.

This renkon (lotus root) kinpira is a recipe I made out of an awesome book that Kayoko got me during her nine-hour layover in Japan. It was luck that I had a lotus root rolling around in my fridge as I explored the pages of the book.

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Spring is here and my local market is starting show signs of different colors of the rainbow after a winter abundance of orange and brown fruits and vegetables. I’ve been most excited about the appearance of more greens — broccoli, asparagus, green onions, etc. The bulk greens sections has also been exploding and the appearance of fresh, healthy mizuna has prompted me to concoct a salad that takes advantage of its availability.

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Happy Passover, everyone! Matzo Brei is a traditional Jewish dish that is made during Passover, which runs through next Tuesday, April 2nd. The recipe calls for eggs and matzo cracker. It’s often sweetened with cinnamon and sugar, but I made a savory version with scallions. I also added some green garlic that came in the CSA box this week, for an added kick.

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For those of you planning your menu for Passover, or for anyone looking for a quick appetizer idea, here’s a fun and colorful twist on haroset, a traditional Jewish dish. Haroset is usually a blend of fruit and nuts made during Passover (which starts a week from today). At times chunky, sometimes smooth, it’s often served on matzoh crackers. I replaced the usual apple with beets to rosy things up!

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This is a fun way to present roasted vegetables and it’s super easy! Just try to find eggplant, beets and onions that are approximately the same size around, so the circles match up when stacked. Use a generous amount  of olive oil when roasting, plus salt and pepper to taste. You may need to take the eggplant out of the oven a little early (it cooks faster than the  other two).

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Dried mushrooms are fashionable. They are packed with umami, and don’t contain any artificial crap. By drying them, mushrooms are concentrated with nutrients and all the good stuff. Mark Bittman wrote about the greatness of dried mushrooms. Pre-packed dried shiitake are found easily at Asian grocery stores, but majority of them are made in China. After seeing all the crazy pollution there, it’s sort of disgusting to think these are sun dried in China, under such heavy smog (this probably isn’t true since majority of companies use drying machines, rather than sun for this process).

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I have been getting a lot of collard greens in my CSA lately. I love how easy they are to quickly chop and fry up with a bit of olive oil. But yesterday I fancied them up a little with capers, burrata and truffle salt (which I am obsessed with lately!). The greens get a nuttiness when you fry them quickly at a medium high temperature — but make it brief, you don’t want to over cook them.

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There were some brussels sprouts scattered in my CSA box this week and it inspired me to come home and make an oldie but goodie: roasted brussels sprouts with golden raisins and turkey kielbasa. Swap out the kielbasa for tofu sausage or onions if you’d like a veggie version of this dish. You can just as easily use a cookie sheet instead of a pan if you’d prefer.

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Raw brussels sprouts have never tasted so good! If you want to make a lot of this, the slice blade on the Cuisinart or mandoline works really well too. This can easily be made ahead and you can really toss in any dressing you like. An easy holiday side dish!

All photos and illustration by © Erin Gleeson and originally posted on The Forest Feast.

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Using cauliflower instead of potatoes in a gratin is a little lighter and just as delicious. You can use any cheese you have on hand (gruyere, parmesan, sharp white cheddar, jack, etc). To add some color to the dish, add broccoli romanesco and some yellow cheddar cauliflower. And the nutmeg adds a cozy wintery feeling.

This is great as a main course or side dish!

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