47 Spring Dinners You Didn't Have to Think Of
Unlocking my phone notes just for you.
Here’s where my list of spring dinner ideas starts…
Make a mountain of this cabbage and pea-shoot salad, which has crunchy instant noodle bits and crispy white beans.
When asparagus is really sweet, slice it in long diagonal shards, toss with lemon zest, good olive oil, and Parmesan or Pecorino. You could add fresh herbs, too! (For 21 other ways to cook asparagus, hop over to this list.)
Just look at Joe Woodhouse’s creamy wild garlic and green chili grilled cheese! You could use ramps or green garlic as soon as they appear.
Blend up an herby green goddess-ish dressing (I like to include yogurt, anchovies, basil, and tarragon, plus a ripe avocado, and lemon juice to taste) and use it to dress a salad of lettuces, peas (if they’re in the pod, slice them into thin diagonal matchsticks), radishes, and herbs. You can layer in prosciutto, or add cooked salmon or chicken or shrimp tossed in a bit of the dressing to make sure it’s well-seasoned.
You know that magic trick where the magician pulls a scarf from his sleeve and it just keeps coming out, longer and longer and longer? In good times, gathering cooking inspiration feels just like that.
We could keep going with the spring vegetables:
There’s an old Scott Conant recipe for sautéed diced leeks with asparagus and peas that adds in thinly sliced lemon (skin and all, the wheels cut into quarters.) A Meyer lemon would be nice.
Sounds pretty good. I could also tell you how much I want to make these:
Hailee Catalano’s radishes picatta! It would make such a nice appetizer when people come over. (Find so many more radish recipes here.)
And Sarah Jampel’s Black Pepper Tofu With Asparagus.
But I want to be so honest with you all. I’m in a moment where nothing is really inspiring me to cook. The magic scarf of ideas got caught in the sleeve somewhere.
In moments like this, my advice is to take a break, or keep things really, truly simple until there’s a tiny voice that squeaks “this sounds good!”
For me, it’s time to open the long-running list on my phone where I’ve jotted down recipes that caught my eye in months past, even if they didn’t fit in any particular week’s plans. It’s also when I go back to another phone note of dinners I’ve made over the years that were especially tasty.
At some point, the little voice will pipe up.
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Below, you’ll find dinners that celebrate the season and the anytime meals I’m hoping to cook soon. There are lots of grilling ideas and comforting dinners for the days when spring isn’t actually all that warm.