What to eat in spring: seven products that are at their best

Although there is less and less availability, you can still get good custard apples from mid-October and, with a bit of luck, until the end of December. It is a tropical fruit that has long been cultivated in Chile with relative success. Ample, with firm and aromatic flesh, it is a delight to taste mixed with other fruits, with white wine or in our star preparation: the joyful cherimoya presented here.

Cheerful cherimoya (for two people)

—2 medium English apples

—2 oranges

Cut each cherimoya in half, peel them and remove all their seeds. Cut them into medium and irregular pieces and set aside. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice from both oranges. Finally, divide the chopped annonas into two individual, deep containers, then bathe the fruit in the orange juice.

It’s true: in the supermarket we can find asparagus throughout the year, but never with the quality, size and flavor that we can get from this month until practically the end of the year. Intense green in color, thick and full of flavor, ideal for eating boiled or grilled. With lemon, vinegar or… homemade mayonnaise?

Mayonnaise

—250 cc marigold oil (1 glass)

-1 egg

-Salt

Crack the egg and add all of its contents to the glass of a blender. Then add the oil, salt to taste and mix immediately at low speed with the mixer so that the egg binds to the oil, creating a more or less thick emulsion. Mix until you get the desired consistency.

Sown in winter and harvested on these days, broad beans mark the start of the season for consuming cold legumes in salads of all kinds. However, they are also very good hot, as in the following recipe.

Broad beans with ham (for two people)

—2 cups of cooked and peeled broad beans

—100 grams of Serrano ham cut into small strips

-1 clove of garlic

—Salt, pepper, parsley and olive oil

Finely chop a clove of garlic then brown it in a pan with a little olive oil. Before it browns, add the broad beans plus the ham, a pinch of pepper and just a little salt. Stir well until the mixture comes to room temperature, and serve immediately with some freshly chopped parsley on top.

Another product that can be found all year round in supermarkets, but the real strawberries only appear at the end of this month. That is to say, intensely red, inside and out, and very soft. A real delight that even allows you to prepare a vinaigrette like the following.

strawberry vinaigrette

—5 ripe strawberries, washed

—¼ cup olive oil

—½ cup of white vinegar

-Black pepper

Cut the strawberries into thin slices and season with a pinch of pepper. Leave them at room temperature for about fifteen minutes. Next, put the oil and vinegar in a bowl and whisk briefly to combine. Finally, add the strawberries and mix again. It will keep for three to four days in the refrigerator, stirring before each use.

It is a curious case. Although artichoke season begins in early fall, in early spring it returns to have a brief moment of splendor. And you have to take advantage of it, because unlike the last artichokes we tried in winter, those in spring are once again tender and tasty. And if you don’t want to eat them like they always have, pay attention to this recipe.

Artichoke omelet (for four people)

—5 cooked artichokes

-4 eggs

—Salt, nutmeg and olive oil

—1 lemon

Skin each of the artichokes and, using a spoon, scoop out all of their flesh. Finely chop their hearts and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and add a pinch of salt and just a touch of freshly grated nutmeg. Mix the eggs with the artichoke flesh and heat a non-stick pan with a little olive oil. Cook the tortilla for only four to five minutes on each side, as the idea is for it to stay a little creamy on the inside. Help yourself to a plate to turn it over and, once ready, let it rest for a moment outside the pan. Serve with a few drops of lemon juice on top.

Sweet, juicy and extremely healthy. This is how blueberries are, that from these weeks and until summer we can find them in fairs and supermarkets all over the country. Although they can be eaten on their own, one at a time, until cooked, they are also an excellent alternative to garnish a fruit salad. Or also in a savory recipe, like the one you can see here.

Chicken breasts stuffed with ricotta and blueberries (for two people)

—1 whole breast

—1 cup chopped blueberries

—200 grams of ricotta

—Salt, pepper and olive oil

—½ cup of whiskey

Bone the breast, get rid of the bones and the leather, so as to end up with two half-breasts split lengthwise, open like a butterfly. To book. Mix the chopped blueberries with the ricotta then divide this content between the two breasts (on one half on each side). Then, close the breasts and help yourself with several toothpicks so that they do not reopen. Season them on both sides then brown them in a hot pan with olive oil. Then transfer the breasts (with all their juices) to a baking dish and add the whisky. Bake in a moderate oven (180º) for twenty minutes. Once ready, let them rest for a few minutes, remove the toothpicks and serve.

These delicious mushrooms, which grow in the shade of certain trees in the south of the country, are ready to be harvested in the first weeks of spring. Its season is generally short and will always depend on the rainfall of the winter season. For all of the above, hopefully they can still be found these days, although they will surely be the last. Where to buy in Santiago? There’s no choice but to go to Vega Central and ask. How to eat them? Although there are digüeñes empanadas and they also work with scrambled eggs, I recommend them raw, with a little onion in small cubes, chopped cilantro, salt, pepper, oil olives and lemon. Thus, all the taste and sweetness of the digüeñes completely reaches our mouths.

*Product prices in this article are current as of October 25, 2022. Values ​​and availability may change.