Spring Loaded

Chunk of change: Potatoes, parsnips, broccoli and other winter veggies meet in this end-of-season bowl. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Winter vegetables make one last stand before heading out for the season.

by Adrienne Saunders

As the mercury inches (however slowly) toward more agreeable temperatures, spring fever strikes and the household purging begins. Skimpier clothes come out; a fresh crop of household cleaners signal your noble intention to give the house a top-down scrubbing. Chances are your pantry could also use an overhaul. Winter's heavy foods and a collection of spices dulled by time line the shelves, freezer and refrigerator drawers, wondering if they'll have to wait till next winter to be of any use.

Ever the frugal gourmet, you hate to waste perfectly good food — vegetables, pricey nuts and spices — but you need room for all the asparagus and Jersey corn you'll be bringing home in the coming months. The good news: While many things will need tossing, the rest you can go on and cook.

Ground spices generally lose most of their flavor after six months. Depending on your grocery store, a spice can reach that point before you even take it home. So if it's been with you that long, use up what you can now (see below) or chuck it. That puny jar of poultry seasoning you bought two Thanksgivings ago isn't going to get used, and even if it did, it's well past its prime, too. Replace your favorite ground spices (e.g., cinnamon, nutmeg, and coriander and cumin seeds) with whole spices, which can last up to two years when stored in airtight tins (available at any home store). Freshly ground, they have more intense flavor. Spice Terminal at Reading Terminal Market is a good place to stock up. You could splurge on a spice grinder, but I'll sometimes haul out my mortar and pestle and do the job the old-fashioned way. Replace dried herbs with fresh sprigs all spring and summer long: You can plant a window-box herb garden for about $15 in materials from your local nursery.

If your garlic has grown green roots, it's no longer good to use fresh, but you can salvage it in the oven. Cut the roots off, roast the whole head of garlic in an aluminum-foil pouch at 450 degrees for 30 minutes and mash the warm cloves into a pile of mashed regular or sweet potatoes with plenty of salt and butter.

The holiday cookie-baking storm has passed and left various bits of chocolate and nuts in its wake. If the chocolate has turned light and crumbly, it's time to discard. (A thin white film is harmless, but go ahead and use it up now — fondue party?) Due to their high fat content, most nut oils and shelled nuts go rancid quickly. Discard if they're bitter or discolored. If you have small amounts of different nuts, make your own bar nuts with your old spices. Mix the nuts with a few splashes of olive oil, salt, pepper and either chili powder or dried rosemary. Toast under the broiler for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring every minute or so as they burn fast. The heat and oil rejuvenate the spices, and toasting heightens the flavor of the nuts' natural oils.

Dark, leafy greens and root vegetables have an amazing shelf life when stored properly. Only problem is, the same bunch of kale or celery root that looked so interesting at the vegetable stand stares you in the face every day from the crisper drawer, taunting you to transform them into all manner of imaginative dishes. The freezer hosts its own peanut gallery: frozen broccoli, spinach, corn and peas you bought when the fresh produce was shabby. Toss them all in one pot, together with leftover ground meat or sausages for a hearty stew on a rainy spring day. Soon, all that room in your fridge will be filled with tender spring lamb chops and sweet sugar snap peas.

Here's a stew recipe based on what I found in my pantry during this week's purge. Feel free to use whatever meats, vegetables, pasta or beans you have lurking on your shelves, but follow the general proportions.

Spring Cleaning Stew

1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1/2 pound ground meat (beef, chicken or turkey)
1/2 pound sausage, any variety
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots (or other root vegetable, like parsnip and turnip), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons mixed dried herbs (thyme, sage or a spice blend like poultry seasoning)
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 bay leaf
15-ounce can of beans, drained, any variety (Good substitute: dried beans, cooked according to package directions and drained, or green or red lentils, rinsed)
6 cups chicken, vegetable or beef stock
28-ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes, or whole tomatoes crushed by hand, or up to 3 diced fresh tomatoes
2 cups dried pasta (break long noodles like spaghetti into pieces)
3 medium potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes (Good substitute: up to 2 cups cubed celery root)
2 cups vegetables, frozen, fresh or canned
Chopped fresh herbs (optional)

In a large stockpot, brown the meat in oil over medium-high heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Add onion, carrots (or other root vegetables); saute another 4 to 5 minutes until onions pick up some color. Add garlic and dried herbs through bay leaf, mix well and saute another 2 minutes. Add beans, stock and tomatoes; bring to a boil, cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Add pasta, potatoes and any frozen vegetables or fresh squash; cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes. Add any other fresh vegetables plus canned ones when 5 minutes of cooking time remain. Remove bay leaf and stir in chopped fresh herbs just before serving. Serves 8.

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there