In March, we all begin our outdoor routines, perhaps the first tentative jogs or even lido swims, as though these actions will somehow precipitate warmer weather. This is the best time to pick young dandelion leaves to toss into salads, to forage for delicate nettle tips for soups and omelettes, and if you know where to look, find wild asparagus and wild garlic.
In markets and grocery stores, fruit and young vegetables begin to appear, sweet as the blossom-scented air outside: fava beans, peas, strawberries, baby carrots. And when the cherries finally arrive, we know that summer is just weeks away.
You do not have to grow your own to experience the joy at the arrival of a new season’s produce, and nothing embodies this more for me than the sight of my grandfather rushing off in his battered truck to buy the first asparagus that heralds spring from his favorite producer in Mazan.
We often come together as a family just to eat the dishes anchored around the new season’s produce, not necessarily for a birthday or religious feast: white asparagus with vinaigrette, grand aïoli...
Yet, when Easter comes, I always find that it is in many ways a celebratory feast I prefer to Christmas: the menu is not prescriptive, there is less pressure, and yet cause to celebrate and spend time with loved ones. Easter Monday calls for a picnic lunch in France, too.
In our fields, the warmer weather means there is pruning to be done. The last year’s growth on the vines must have been completely cut back by March at the latest (taille tôt, taille tard, mais taille en mars), the olive trees must be thinned out and the cherry trees must too be pruned to improve the quality of the fruit and make harvesting easier.
My sister Estelle plants her fava beans on New Year’s Day, straight into the ground outside. Five months later, when the sun is shining and we are eating delicious home-grown fava beans in salads such as this one, I am very glad that someone took the trouble to sow them back in cold, dark January.
If you prefer, you can serve this recipe with poached rather than boiled eggs.
The arrival of spring
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This fresh fava bean and asparagus salad recipe makes two servings.
Ingredients
10 1⁄2 oz (300g) podded and peeled fava beans (fresh or frozen)
1 lb 2oz (500g) green asparagus tips
2 eggs
1⁄3 oz/10g) finely chopped mint, plus a few leaves to garnish
1. Place a pan of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Add the fava beans and fast-simmer for about 5 minutes. Taste one to check they are tender, and if satisfied, then lift the rest of the fava beans out of the water using a slotted spoon and place in a colander. Run the beans under cold water, then squeeze them out of their skins (unless using baby fava beans, which can be eaten whole). Place the fava beans in a salad bowl.
2. Trim the asparagus tips if necessary, then place in the pan of still fast-simmering water. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until tender to your liking. Lift the asparagus from the water using a slotted spoon and add to the bowl of cooked, peeled fava beans.
3. Place the eggs in the same pan of boiling water and set a timer for 6.5 minutes, for a firm white and soft yolk (alternatively, you can poach the eggs). While the eggs are cooking, add the mint and basil to the bowl of asparagus and fava beans. Drizzle over the walnut oil, crumble in the goat cheese (if using), and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss together, then add salt and black pepper to taste, along with a little zest from the lemon.
4. Divide the salad between two plates. When the eggs are done, peel them and top each salad with an egg. Garnish as desired and serve immediately with crusty bread.
