Vegetables

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is a high-protein cereal grain from South America. The tiny seeds have a fluffy, slightly crunchy texture and mild nutty-grassy taste when cooked. To remove any traces of the seeds' natural residue called saponin, rinse the quinoa well with cold water before cooking.

This lemon and dill vinaigrette is a natural complement to green beans. It's also great tossed with steamed asparagus or drizzled over sliced fresh tomatoes.

Swiss chard, championed for its serious vitamin content, is often linked with fall harvest festivals. Yet, May brings the season's first crop, with delicate leaves and subtle flavor. A member of the beet family, Swiss chard can be used as a substitute for almost any recipe that calls for spinach. In this pie, which begins with a store-bought frozen shell, bacon and Parmesan give the eggs richness. Since the custard doesn't contain cream, the texture of the finished tart is lighter than quiche. Swiss chard leaves need a thorough rinsing.

This healthy main is cooked completely on the grill and is flavored by a simple, four-ingredient marinade—so there's very little cleanup required. Some grilled rustic bread would be nice alongside. And if you happen to have fig balsamic vinegar, use it in place of regular. It makes an excellent complement to the other flavors.

The cabbage in this dish, which is flavored with ginger, should be sliced thinly into shreds, as for coleslaw. 

Even though asparagus spears are in markets many months of the year, they're best freshly harvested from local farms. The green spears are the shoots of a perennial lily bulb. When the soil is warm enough the spears shoot up through the surface and head straight for the sun. They grow fast, and are ready to eat, long and thick, just a day after they break through the dirt. For a springtime pasta that stars asparagus, slice thick spears on a diagonal.

The weather is warm, but our own growing season has just begun. Many fruits and vegetables in our markets now were picked before they turned fully ripe (to make shipping easier), so they taste disappointing. One lackluster fruit is tomatoes. To intensify their flavor, roast them in a hot oven with a sprinkle of fresh herbs. Toss the charred tomatoes with penne, serve them as a side dish with roast chicken or grilled salmon, or spoon them onto crusty bread.

You can use any vinegar for this recipe. Make sure it's good quality because there's no oil to offset it. Seasoned rice wine vinegar, used in Asian cooking, tastes great with the carrots.