A Taste of Spring with Cooking Light and Rosemary-Crusted Rack of Lamb with Balsamic Sauce

 

Rosemary-Crusted Rack of Lamb with Balsamic Sauce

We are so glad that you have decided to join us once again for our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club. This is a monthly event where 5 ladies in two neighbouring countries get together to create a delicious meal with a theme in mind. We all share a love for Cooking Light magazine which has an emphasis on healthy eating and living. Each issue covers light cuisine and includes more than 70 delicious and flavourful recipes. It also explores food and nutrition news as well as fitness, health and beauty. Appreciate this months write-up at their blog Test Kitchen Secrets.

For the month of March we enjoyed each others company virtually and continued with our healthy themes and honoured the season with A TASTE OF SPRING. We created what we consider a delicious and healthy menu from the pages of Cooking Light magazine. The idea is simple because we all share a common interest in cooking and healthy eating. We love to share these ideas with you each and every month through our Virtual Supper Club. This is a team effort where we combine what Cooking Light readers like best...good food with great company!!!

After what has seemed like an eternity, the northern hemisphere (read that The Great White North) can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Heavy winter coats are lifted along with people’s spirits.  With the turn of the calendar Spring has finally arrived!!!!Although in truth winter never really seemed to arrive here in the valley this year. It was mild, warm and snow free!! We are hovering between seasons here in the valley, the robins are back and they will be counting daffodils soon. Nevertheless it’s time to give winter staples "the boot" and dedicate suppertime to everything the change in seasons has to offer!!!!!.

 Spring is when everything seems to come alive!!!!! The days are longer and the markets begin to burst with the colours of the bountiful fruits and vegetables of the season. This is the time to enjoy fresh rhubarb, sweet garden peas and furled fiddleheads . It is the season for asparagus and escarole and a wide variety of lettuce handplucked from the garden for green salads. The delightful fragrance of chives, mint, chervil and tarragon fill the air to season your dishes. All of these tastes of Spring are bursting from our gardens, forests, markets and window boxes.

Teanna of Spork and Foon says, "The advantages to cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients are endless. The produce tastes richer, fresher, and is more nutritious. The beauty of cooking with ingredients that are freshest in the Spring months are their pure simplicity.  The standout flavours are the fresh, natural ingredients themselves... the sweet taste of a carrot or the pop of a freshly shelled pea. Toss arugula with cherries, red wine vinegar, a touch of extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, and thyme with some creamy goat cheese and you will have a dynamic spring starter. Top poached halibut with an orange vinaigrette and serve with asparagus sautéed in a bit of olive oil and topped with a dash of sea salt and shaved parmesan cheese or sauté fresh peas with spring onions in butter and delicate chervil for a side that is surprising ripe with flavor."

For those who are lucky enough to live near a farmers market as I am, we would be hard pressed not to be aware of which fruits are at the peak of their season. Pods of fresh peas and stalks of beautifully green asparagus will cook beautifully in a sauce of lemon zest, butter, mint and tossed with pappardelle or fettucini noodles. Later in the Spring season you can pick up sweet, deliciously ripe red strawberries or cherries that spill out of their baskets and pair them with early sweet-tart red rhubarb for a delicious galette. Add a bit of whipped cream topped with fragrant mint and you have the ultimate springtime dessert.

For me, just hearing the word Spring, turns my thoughts to lamb. In real time my daughter and friends came to dinner and we enjoyed the ultimate Rosemary-Crusted Rack of Lamb With Balsamic Sauce found in Cooking Light magazine.  I will make it time and time again with its crisp bread crumb coating. The sweet balsamic sauce made the perfect accent to the dish, my only regret was there was not enough so double the recipe!!!!! No need to rely on complicated recipes featuring heavy sauces or lengthy cooking times to create a mouthwatering dish such as this!!! To accompany the Spring lamb virtually Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch brought a mind-blowing staple of Zucchini Ribbons with Saffron Couscous. Adding to our healthy menu Aggie of Aggies Kitchen cooked up a colourful and flavourful Spring Giardiniera.  For finesse Jamie of Mom's Cooking Club wowed us with Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing. Spring has arrived!!!!! To end our meal with a finale worthy of late Spring flavours Helene of La Cuisine d'Helene prepared  the ultimate delicious dessert....Raspberry-Almond Crumb Cake.

Although distance always prevents us from gathering as a group in each others homes we have enjoyed sharing a well balanced meal through our Virtual Supper Club this month and hipe you have enjoyed our healthy Spring menu. These dishes from Cooking Light magazine are sure to bring "daffodil smiles" to your own table.

What would you bring to the table? Link to the Cooking Light blog Test Kitchen Secrets when you see the post in a few days or to one of our blogs here and make something delicious from the pages of the magazine to add to our TASTE OF SPRING menu...the more the merrier!!!! 

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Content must be credited to this author.