Dishes you wait for each year

[ludja]

There are some things that I only make one season of the year. Usually this is driven by the availability of seasonal and when possible, local, ingredients at their cheapest and best but it also has to do with the flavors that I wait for and associate with a particular time of year. (I love BLT’s but my anticipation for them is only re-stoked each year as I wait for the best tomatoes!) Some dishes work with frozen, canned or out of season produce but others just don't.

Please share of few of your top choices for dishes that you save for each season!

I thought of this after seeing this thread on stuffed peppers. I make my sauce from fresh tomatoes for version of this dish so I typically make them in late summer and early fall.

Spring:

Spring salmon salad with asparagus, fava beans and spring onions

Artichoke Tart

Strawberry shortcake with cream biscuits (later spring; here in CA)

Pineapple Sorbet

Summer:

Grilled chicken (ok, I have a long grilling season here, but this is when I’m grilling chicken very often.)

Ratatouille

Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches

Fresh cherries served with triple crème cheese

blackberry cobbler or raspberry and peach cobbler

Fall:

Stuffed peppers and tomato sauce made with fresh tomatoes (early fall)

Fig tart (early fall)

Winter:

Sauerbraten (the recent thread here reminded me of this)

Turkey in Red Mole Sauce

Grapefruit sorbet garnished with pomegranates

Edited March 13, 2007 by ludja (log)

[nduran]

Persimmon shortcake. This season was particularly short, so I felt cheated.

Lychee pudding. Canned works, but always has that heavy syrupy taste no matter what.

[amccomb]

rhubarb crisp

tomato sandwiches

peach pie or ice cream

corn and tomato salad

grilled corn

[Mayhaw Man]

Summer-

Okra and Tomatoes

Peach Cobbler

Peach Ice Cream

Fresh Peas (blackeyed, cow, lady peas, whatever-just peas)

Butterbeans

More Okra and Tomatoes

Fresh Pole Beans

Corn

[ludja]

Persimmon shortcake. This season was particularly short, so I felt cheated.

Lychee pudding. Canned works, but always has that heavy syrupy taste no matter what.

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Persimmon shortcake in the autumn; that sounds interesting.

Do you use the firmer or softer type of persimmon and how do you prep them?

I haven't gotton fresh lychees for a few years; do they usually show up in the US in the spring? (Lychee pudding sounds wonderful as well.

Looks like our other responses so far are squarely in summer...

[SheenaGreena]

Spring:

lots of "mountain" spring vegetables that are turned into namul (korean seasoned vegetables that are used as banchan) and seasoned very simply.

Summer:

naeng myun done mul naeng myun style or bi bim naeng myun style or the naeng myun done with the radish kimchee juice and tops (oh my god heaven)

sam gye tang - chicken stuffed with jujubes, chestnut, gingko, and some sweet glutionous rice. Most people think its should be eaten during winter cause it's a hot dish but it's actually supposed to be served in the summer time.

BLUE CRABS - served raw and seasoned with soy sauce or with gochugaru, ginger, garlic, and sugar. or my favorite - steamed with old bay and stuffed to the gills with eggs.

fresh sashimi - every time I visit my parents for the summer, my mother, sister, and I go get a whole flounder. My mother takes off the flesh and cuts it up and serves it with some shiso leaves, chojang, and sliced up hot chiles. After we eat the sashimi, we take the bones of the fish and the leftover fish and make a really spicy fish stew out of it and drink shots of ice cold soju

whoops, forgot to add corn. My family eats A LOT of corn in the summer. My mother will make my father and I buy about 4 dozen ears of corn when we find a farm that sells really sweet and tasty ones.

Fall:

fall reminds me of korean thanksgiving so I think of lots of rice cakes that my mother tends to make this time of year. THe one that she usually makes around this time is one made of sticky rice with lots of chesnuts, pinenuts, raisins, and brown sugar mixed in. I have no clue what it is called.

Winter:

lots of hearty stews and soups like kalgooksu, mandooguk, and tteok guk.

I like the summer the best, cause thats when I see my parents the most (and get the best food).

Edited March 14, 2007 by SheenaGreena (log)

[docsconz]

I go more for specific ingredients than specific dishes.

Spring: Asparagus

Soft-shell crabs

fresh morels

strawberries

fresh peas

ramps

Copper River salmon

Summer:

cherries

peaches

corn

tomatoes

duck eggs

Fall:

pumpkin

taylor bay scallops

Nantucket scallops

Italian truffles

Winter:

oranges

meyer lemons

Maine shrimp

to name a few

[nduran]

Persimmon shortcake in the autumn; that sounds interesting. 

Do you use the firmer or softer type of persimmon and how do you prep them? 

I slice up the firmer fuyu variety and cook them very, very lightly in a little bit of butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and palm sugar then make a sauce from basically the same ingredients only with a puree instead of slices. I usually cheap out and just go with the preservative packed Hostess dessert cups for the base and top them with some form of cold sweetened dairy product.

Truth be told I tend to go through a couple pounds of the things per week just eating them straight out of the sack, but that probably wouldn't qualify as a "dish" for this thread's purposes

Lychees show up around May-ish I believe, though they aren't usually ripe enough to buy until later.

[C. sapidus]

For summer, I think of fruits and berries, picked ourselves and still warm from the sun – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. Similarly, fall means locally-grown apples, especially Stayman and Ida Red. Doesn’t matter how they are prepared – apple crisp, apple pie, or just eaten plain. Apples = fall.

Fall is also when our vegetable garden typically recovers from the ravages of summer and starts spewing forth tomatoes. I try to remember all of the special dishes – Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, and Italian – that excel with fresh tomatoes.

One other summer favorite: the crab feast. Steamed blue crabs, newspaper on the table, corn on the cob, cheap cold beer, and spending time with friends and family. Yes, I know that you can get crabs most of the year, but without 90% humidity it just doesn’t seem right.

[SheenaGreena]

One other summer favorite: the crab feast. Steamed blue crabs, newspaper on the table, corn on the cob, cheap cold beer, and spending time with friends and family. Yes, I know that you can get crabs most of the year, but without 90% humidity it just doesn’t seem right.

amen to that. Nothing tastes better than a Maryland crab feast. I'm glad you enjoy the cheap cold beer with it. I myself am a Schaefer girl only when it comes to 2 things: crabbing on the chesapeake in 90 degree weather and eating crabs outside in the backyard on the patio table. We eat outside, because we are close to the hose. Sometimes I will even hose off some of the old bay. I swear, every time you ask for light seasoning they put extra seasoning on

[snowangel]

On te first 60+ degree day in Minnesota (today!), we have burgers on the grill.

The next landmark will be wild ramps.

[amccomb]

Similarly, fall means locally-grown apples, especially Stayman and Ida Red. Doesn’t matter how they are prepared – apple crisp, apple pie, or just eaten plain. Apples = fall.

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I was thinking about apples, too - I like Winter Banana or Jonathon apples with cashew butter or a sharp cheese.

I definitely do more soups and stews in fall, braises in winter, and sandwiches or salads in summer. Spring is more about ingredients, and I tend to do a lot of risotto or light asian soups or stir fries.

[petite tête de chou]

Spring

scallions/radishes/mesclun

salmon

asparagus

strawberries

eggs

tender tips of thyme, rosemary, sage and lovage to be used whole on focaccia

Summer

tomatoes and fresh chilis

corn

caneberries- blackberries and raspberries

endless supply of fresh chives from my garden

cherries, nectarines and plums

Autumn to Winter

winter squash and sweet potatoes- two very favorites

whole nuts- hazelnuts and walnuts especially

apples and tons of different varieties of pears

brussel sprouts

[lovebenton0]

spring = fresh greens and leg o' lamb

summer = real tomatoes and an abundance of chilis [which always means fresh salsa], cherries by the pound, corn on the cob and salmon just seared on the grill

fall = roasted squash, turkey, clam chowder, chicken 'n dumplings and pecan pie

winter = glorious soups and tamales

[snowangel]

Oh, oh, oh. How could I forget July and August, and not only fresh garden tomatoes (none of the supermarket styrofoam crap) and SWEET CORN!

[Chufi]

Split pea soup, I only make it in january

Spring: the White asparagus dinner, asparagus with ham, boiled potatoes, eggs and lots of melted butter

Spring: Rhubarb, rhubarb, anything with rhubarb.. it's almost time!

Oh and game in fall and early winter. Something to reconcile you with the end of summer.. and fall is actually my favorite coking season. Mushrooms, game, stews and braises!

Edited March 14, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

I crave ingredients more, too... all year long I pine for the goodies grown in my own garden, but a few items are especially irreplaceable... okra, tomatoes, watermelon & canteloupes, berries, peas, and blackeyed peas, which I *will* eat dried during the winter, but which are FAR superior when fresh, as opposed to dried, canned, or frozen.

Won't be long, now, though...

[artemisanne]

Ohhh- I like this,...

Summer by far is my favorite season - I wait all year for Silver Queen Corn, which I can pick myself off the stalk here in Tampa. Then cherries although I can't get them same day harvested. Tomatoes of course, but we actually grow pretty crappy tomatoes locally - it's the sandy soil and the heat. Peaches and pears and apricots!!! Pole beans, black eyed peas. Not to riff off TopChef but I grew up eating what they called Malaysian Cherries as a kid- we called them little pumpkins b/c that's what they're shaped like but they taste more like sweet tarts.

The strangest and hardest thing for me to get, but it is my favorite food in the world is breadfruit, or jackfruit as some call it- it's only available in late July and August.

Winter means strawberries and onions and citrus- specifically tangerines and clementines.

Spring- peas!!!!! and this will seem strange- nasturtiums. Not that they have a taste that I crave, but because they are so pretty in salads and they die here when it gets too hot!

And i forgot Brussels sprouts in Autumn.

Edited March 14, 2007 by artemisanne (log)

[KateinChicago]

Spring

morels sauteed in butter

baby peas sauteed in olive oil with garlic and prosciutto

fava beans with pecorino

roasted lamb (rack or leg)

lamb ragout with artichokes and fava beans

soft shell crab sauteed with lemons and capers

Summer

cherry clafoutis

mixed berries with champagne sabayon

tomato tarte

corn on the cob slathered in garlic butter

Pasta with pesto

Fall

pumpkin/squash ravioli with brown butter and sage

Butternut squash and apple soup

oysters (with mignonette sauce, rockefeller, fried)

spaghetti with white clam sauce

fonduta with white truffles

grilled porcini mushrooms

Winter

lots and lots of braises

Christmas tortellini (I make a lot to last all winter)

Lynn Rosetto Kasper's brodo from "The Splendid Table" with a handful of parmesan and maybe a handful of tortellini for when I'm home alone and feeling aggrieved

Kate

[The Blissful Glutton]

Mostly winter dishes like choucroute, cassoulet, stews, etc.

[ludja]

...

Winter means strawberries and onions and citrus- specifically tangerines and clementines.

....

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Are the local strawberries in Florida actually best in winter? Is is too hot in the summer there?

I love winter for oranges, tangerines and grapefruit; that is when I buy the whole fruit and make things like the grapefruit sorbet I mentioned earlier.

[shellfishfiend]

Spring-crawfish, asparagus, new potatoes, strawberries

Summer-watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes (sandwiches, salads, out of hand, with okra), okra, yellow squash, peaches, purple hull peas

[Lori in PA]

Hmm, just now I'm eagerly waiting for my asparagus to emerge and then I'll eat it three times a day! Around the same time, the tarragon and chives reappear in the herb garden, so we find ourselves having lemon tarragon roast chicken and adding tarragon to tomato sauces. The other perennial herbs wake up one by one and get welcomed into the kitchen and incorporated into various dishes. When the strawberries are at their finest in late May we must have a dish we call Strawberry LOL, which is a dumb name for a sort of deluxe strawberry shortcake.

August peaches require me to make a chilled peach soup and peach cobbler. Throughout corn and tomato season I make corn, tomato, and basil salad and of course we eat ear after ear with good old butter and salt. I completely lose my head during the six weeks or so my tomato plants are bearing -- I eat them every which way, but my daily lunch includes diced tomatoes with olive oil, basil, garlic, and sea salt. Summer also requires a southern vegetable feast with my parents -- Mom makes squash, pintos and cornbread, fried green tomatoes, and okra if we can get a good mess of it. Oh, and my whole family begs for tomato basil pie when both of those goodies are in abundance.

Autumn is apple time around here. We can applesauce and I always make a fresh apple cake with caramel frosting. I also make Normandy-style chicken with apples and cream and pork with apples makes several appearances of one kind or another. I turn to salads with fruit, nuts, and cheese to comfort myself on the loss of the tomatoes.

Winter brings more a style of cooking than anything starring particular ingredients, but I make a lot of soup and do a good deal of braising.

[Henry dV]

Autumn has to be the sweet September rabbits, partridge and cider.

Winter - Duck and geese, root veg,big hearty gravy filled pies and soups.

Spring - Woodpigeon and venison, nettles and young soft herbs.

Summer - Fruit and green stuffs, mackerel and salmon/sea trout and lazing in the shade with a pimms.

Marvellous

[mizducky]

When I was a kid in the New York metro area, the first Jersey truck farm sweet corn of the season was a hugely anticipated event in my family. Ridiculously sweet and delicious butter-and-sugar corn. Yum!

First edible tomatoes out of my dad's garden each year was also an event ... but only because he had to be the most haphazard gardener on the planet. What didn't get eaten by the local woodchucks would stay green on the vine an inordinately long time.

And then there were all the wild raspberry bushes in the woods and brushy places around my home. I'd be eyeing those bushes for weeks, waiting for the berries to go ripe--if you waited too long, the birds would beat you to them.

These days, I still eagerly await the first blueberries of the season to turn up in the market. I can inhale 'em by the pint without blinking an eye.

Oh yeah, and going now from the sublime to the ridiculous ... it is now the season when I can acquire the key ingredient for these stunning little morsels ...