Springtime Spread
Springtime is the season of new growth, sun, rain and abundance. It’s a great time to reconnect with nature and turn the focus back to our health.
A nice way to do this is to consciously consume food. Notice the colours, smells and tastes. Consider how the food can be best prepared and celebrated.
There’s a springtime dish called Bagna Cauda which translates to “hot dip” and it originates from Piedmont, Italy. Traditionally made with butter, olive oil, garlic & anchovies, it is served warm with fresh spring vegetables, almost like fondue. This dish is a true celebration of fresh spring produce.
To honour the amazing spring veggies we have right now, the following have been used in our Bagna Cauda:
We also made a Persian Fetta dip to go with our dish.
Considering the incredible taste of broccoli and asparagus, we wanted to leave it as close to raw as possible, so simply blanch them for 30 seconds. The broccoli is left crunchy with a delicious nutty flavour but not quite completely raw.
The asparagus still has a beautiful crunch to it but ever so slightly softened, making it a touch juicer than if it were left raw.
Serve the carrots, fennel and witlof raw. Generally, the witlof can have a slightly bitter flavour but combined with the smooth, salty flavour of the dip and bagna, it’s the perfect match. Bonus titbit for you is that witlof is an incredibly powerful prebiotic. Basically a fertiliser for your gut bacteria. It’s great to add to raw dishes like this as it help promote an abundant and healthy gut flora.
Traditionally, you would only serve veggies but when you stock the divine breads that we do, how could you possibly leave it out! We added a few sticks of Ned’s Olive Grissini.
We hope this has inspired you to create a spring plate of your own.