Spaghetti Primavera

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

Primavera means spring, and spring has officially sprung. It’s time to enjoy longer days, warmer temperatures and the beautiful spring produce in our markets.

In our house, we try our best to cook with the season’s crops, so when it comes to spaghetti, we make Bolognese in the winter, chilled pasta with roasted corn and chicken in the summer, and caramelized butternut squash with sage and hazelnuts in the fall.

So Primavera is the hit this spring and much lighter than its winter cousin. We use a fruity olive oil, tomato puree – because fresh tomatoes aren’t quite in season yet – and loads of green veggies.

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Rainy Day Soup

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

The spring rains have begun as well as some amazing thunder clappers. This past week delivered not only tons of rain and high winds but lots of buds and flowering bushes and green grass. This is my favorite time of year (fall is a close second).

Today is a day of gardening and digging out of last year's twigs and fall leaves that found there way into my garden to form a protective blanket until spring really arrived. So maybe it's a tad early, as I know that up here in the Hudson Valley, they say, do not plant or uncover until frost is really a distant memory, which locals say is around May 15.

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Welcoming Spring with Strawberries

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

The time I’ve been waiting for all winter is finally here: the first of the season’s strawberries.

I’m surprised to find out that many people don’t associate spring with strawberries, but I do. In the South, they always marked the arrival of new spring crops and, of course, lasted well into the summer, when most people think strawberries are at their best. And while I agree with that opinion, I still love the first strawberries, with their slight tartness.

That tartness suits them well to maceration, my favorite treatment for strawberries. Akin to marinating meat, maceration is when you soak a fruit in liquid in order to soften it. How you macerate it and in what liquid is where you can get creative.

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Paris: Settling In

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

This year, we considered going on vacation to somewhere new, but we decided on Paris instead. There’s a lot to be said for a place where you’ve already been to the great museums, seen most of the major sites, are familiar with the food, and can navigate the transportation system.

Then you can go out or not. Eat out or not. There’s no pressure to DO; you can just relax.

Of course there’s more to the appeal of Paris than familiarity. Each time we visit, I fall in love with the place, all over again. And you can never have been to the museums enough times to pass them by on each succeeding visit.

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Steamed Fish – Quick, Healthy and so Easy

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By David Hu
A new video for Video Friday

I’m always looking to get more fish into my diet. Fish is both healthy and can be very easy to prepare. Today’s recipe is a super-simple Steamed Fish with Ginger and Green Onions. This recipe only has seven ingredients and preps and cooks in less than 20 minutes.

While the recipe is easy, you need a Chinese food steamer which consists of a pot, an inset with holes that nests on top of the pot, and a cover. You put water in the pot and bring it just to boiling to produce steam. The steam will rise through the holes. The food goes on a heatproof plate that is lowered onto the inset. Then the pot is covered to capture the steam and cook the food.

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