Dishes you wait for each year

[nikkib]

Not so much seasonal food but traditions.. If my mother hasn't done her first bbq of the year by mothers day (this weekend in th uk) she feels she has failed! Cue many many years of sitting outside wrapped in blankets bbqing, i always look forward to the first one though especially her bbq sauce ( made by reducing caramelised onions,chilli powder, thyme,tomato purree with honey and vineagr for about an hour or so mmmm) Also Asparagus, especially white for its short season and of course British strawberries, but most importantly PIMMS from the grand national racing (April) til my birthday in oct....

[ludja]

I love the diversity of responses; it's great to see the entries for seasonal fish and game as well.

I thought of two other dishes that are completely seasonal and that I wait for each year:

Austrian Marillenknoedel (Apricot Dumplings) at the begninning of the summer and Zwetschenknoedel (Plum Dumplings) at the end of the summer. No other time to make these babies and one really has to be ready for the short fresh apricot season. (I just thought of these when posting these photos

Fall and winter is also the time for roasted chestnuts with a mug of Austrian spiced Gluehwein.

And inspired by the Pimms reveries, I'll add Mint Juleps in the summer.

[racheld]

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

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An echo from far away, from pictures and descriptions LAST Spring---it is THE perfect first-hint-of-Spring meal.

We've always had lots of green asparagus during the season, but the white just seems a voluptuous siren-call, the long pale tenderness creamy in the mouth, and the richness of the melted butter, with the nearly-gold, orange-centered egg halves lying waiting. The little pink curls of ham are lagniappe, salt to the sweetness and asparagus-bitter mouthfuls.

The whiteness of the potato, both colour and flavour, is a moment's rest from the sensory overload of asparagus, butter, softly-gelled egg yolk. It's a pillow of a meal, all sumptuous textures and tastes, with a crunch of salt to the teeth and a runnel of buttermelt painting the plate.

Fat round shocks of the tall white stems with their tight-furled fist-tops have stood in the icy pan in our favourite grocery for days now, but only when the windows are all open, the sheers billowing in the soft breezes, will I buy, and steam, and savour.

Chufi is a true Goblin Market Elf.

[Kouign Aman]

Spring

Strawberries & cream

Rhubarb pie or compote

When the plants ripen and the tomatoes glow:

Bacon/tomato sandwiches

basil/tomato/mozzarella salad (caprese)

marinated tomatoes

fresh blueberry pancakes (August)

blueberry cobbler (August)

sweet corn on the cob.

artichokes

late fall

red delicious (only for a few weeks each year do I like this variety)

starting to put fuyu persimmons here, as I work on my pudding/pie recipe.

winter:

mincemeat pie

chestnuts

whole nuts (stock up on these for me, and for the bigboid a years supply)

[russ parsons]

twice in the last 3 days i've cooked a big platter of jumbo asparagus as a main course: peel fairly well (particularly down toward the base), steam 5-6 minutes and then while they're hot, bath them in a shallot-y vinaigrette. yum.

[Priscilla]

Oh my goodness I have been fervently anticipating the wild salmon we'll be eating perhaps twice a week pretty soon. Not soon enough, neither.

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

Oh my goodness I have been fervently anticipating the wild salmon we'll be eating perhaps twice a week pretty soon.  Not soon enough, neither.

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I'm with ya. I only "discovered" wild salmon a couple of years ago when I was eating at a seafood place in White Plains, NY, and was completely wowed by the difference. I am anxiously waiting for its appearance here, too!

[KatieLoeb]

I'm anxiously awaiting the short seasonal appearance of Honeysuckle gelato at Capogiro Gelato, my favorite rite of spring.

I indulged in my other favorite rite of Spring yesterday, the first 70 degree day in months. I went and treated myself to a lovely glass of rose wine at my local wine bar. - a glass of Spanish garnacha based deliciousness. I love pink wine and it just tastes like warm weather to me. It was very satisfying.

[JasonTrue]

I'm hoping asparagus and morel frittata with shallots will be breakfast in just a few weeks.

twice in the last 3 days i've cooked a big platter of jumbo asparagus as a main course: peel fairly well (particularly down toward the base), steam 5-6 minutes and then while they're hot, bath them in a shallot-y vinaigrette. yum.

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[hummingbirdkiss]

it is nice reading through this thread and seeing what I never really realized ..I always thought we ate what we wanted when we saw it ..but really we do have a set pattern of seaonal eating that is such a strong part of who we are that we make our vacations follow our food loves!!!

Spring

I tend to make a lot of Persian food during the spring because of lamb prices, all the herbs and rhubarb available.....we eat a lot of rhubarb because I grow a hillside of it!... make sweet and savory rhubarb dishes..and particularly love it layered with stuffed grape leaves...and even just eat it raw out of the garden!

Chives go in and on everything I never really eat them any other time of the year so I take full advantage now...

home made Green Goddess salad dressing ..fresh every day and it goes on almost everything!!!!

black cake

of course local strawberries and spring salmon I make a fantasitc Copper River Ceviche every year that my coworkers fight over and talk about months later! as part of my spring tradition...

go out and pick spring mushrooms and eat them with fresh local double yolk eggs

harvest nettles and make cream of nettle soup...

I love spring!!!

Summer

A lot of grilled food ...mainly Caribbean or the Southern Italian dishes of my childhood....fresh pastas, fresh chutney...roti bread made on the grill

Berries are big here ..really BIG! I have all types of berries growing in my yard..every morning during the summer I go out with a bowl and pick my breakfast off the vines..then come back in and eat them with heavy cream or Greek yogurt....I never get tired of it and do it until the last berry falls into my hand! ..I also put fruit and berries into every dish I can possible think of

we eat a lot of pork and duck in the summer it is such a natural with all the fruits!

everything we eat during the summer is harvested locally

Fall

Green chiles and family in New Mexico are the center of everything ...we gather outside Santa Fe in the most amazing place...visit the roasters get bushels of green chile roasted then come home sit on the porch look a the view while peeling and hanging chile to dry...we also make huge pans of enchiladas ..cinamon rolls and fruit crisps .....salsa chips drink tons of beer and wine ..... peel dry and freeze the green chile so we are squared away for the rest of the year

fresh sage the smell of sage in the fall is like magic to me

Garlic harvest and time to use all the fresh garlic I want in anything I want to

apples and pears

Winter

Hearty Southern Italian dishes and lots of New Mexican style dishes are the center for us during the winter

We make salt cod dishes as well

Red and Green "Christmas" chile enchiladas (I make pan after pan of enchiladas in the

winter)

tomales sweet and savory...

home made donuts

black cake

winter squash

chocolate anything

citrus fruits lots of lemon and lime in everything ...