April is the Greenest Month

Although the first signs that winter is over are already visible in March, with the first new plants appearing shyly, April is the prime time for fresh greens. Just look at the list of vegetables that are in season at the moment: spring onions, baby spinach, cabbage, Swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, leek, radicchio, lamb's lettuce, arugula, endive, asparagus, nettle, zucchini, sprouts... Early spring is also the time to adjust our diet, to make the switch from hearty and heavy winter food to something light, refreshing and crispy.

“All of a sudden, the market turns green in April.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

It's only natural that our body craves for green vegetables at this time of year, even if you are a hardcore carnivore. Just look at all the wonderful leafy green stuff around you! Surely there's more ways to use it than just serve a basic seasonal salad along with another meal based on meat and carbs. So, how do Zagrebians handle this green explosion hitting them in April and get the most out of it? As seen in the list, salad greens dominate the season. Therefore, salads are a staple, but to make a filling dish, we like to enhance our leafy salad material. Add some radishes, cheese, eggs, rich dressings... In this part of Croatia, lamb's lettuce is popular, and it pairs really well with eggs and pumpkin seed oil. And if you mix it with boiled potatoes or beans, you have yourself a full meal. The neglected watercress is undergoing its renaissance lately, and since its flavour is very subtle, it's usually mixed with other, more intense plants like radicchio and radishes.

“Restaurants love to find inspiration in the seasonal greens, like Pod Zidom bistro.” Image credit: Pod Zidom Bistro & Wine Bar FB

Plants with intense flavour like wild garlic, nettle, spring onions or wild asparagus are most often prepared with scrambled eggs, something like an omelette. Of course, it doesn't hurt to add a bit of bacon to this combination, as well as grated cheese on top. Veggies that usually require some kind of thermal processing, like baby spinach, Swiss chard, leek or zucchini, are perfect for all sorts of spring-flavoured filled pastries. In this case, they need to partner with Zagreb's famous fresh cottage cheese to make a luscious filling. Here it's something closer to strudel than the eastern variants like zeljanica pie. Many of April greens are perfectly suited for pasta and risotto dishes. The secret is to keep it simple, don't let anything get in the way and interfere with the flavour of your precious main ingredient. Speaking of seasonal greens, one dish sticks in my mind, and for many people in Zagreb it goes down memory lane straight to those careless childhood days: spinach with mashed potatoes. Be careful, it's not a mash, as in just mixing those two. Smooth creamed spinach sauce comes on one side, mashed potatoes on the other. Like yin and yang. But there's always an extra, either a piece of meat, faširanac or minced meat patty if you're lucky, or fried egg. Hated it when I was little, love it now.

“Spinach with mashed potatoes, a classic, especially if prepared with fresh baby spinach.” Image credit: Pivnica Budweiser FB

Whether you're eating at home, in a canteen, a bistro or an upscale restaurant, the green trail of spring will be visible on every plate, and serve as a prelude to the next round of seasonal produce awaiting in late spring. Enjoy the gifts of April while they are here, resistance is futile.

“Spinach with mashed potatoes can also become a creative gourmet dish.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Header image credit: Taste of Croatia 

Author: Morana Zibar/Taste of Croatia