Spring Dinner Ideas

Celebrate the arrival of spring weather with light and colorful dishes showcasing the best of spring produce. Here, a selection of recipes perfect for a spring dinner, including spring vegetable and sunflower panzanella, a shaved asparagus salad with oranges and pecorino and whole wheat spaghetti primavera.

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Spring Buckwheat Noodle Salad

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British cooks Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley dress this vegetable-packed noodle salad with a deeply flavorful and tangy sun-dried tomato and Brazil nut pesto.

Rice-Noodle Salad with Chicken and Herbs

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Crunchy Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce

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Michael Schlow of Radius in Boston uses potato flakes from a box in place of bread crumbs to form a supercrispy crust for cod fillets.

Banana Tartar Sauce

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Grilled-Chicken Tacos

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This grilled-chicken taco recipe from New York City's Dos Toros chicken thighs calls for chicken thighs in tomatoes and lime. The result: super juicy meat that cooks quickly.

Fried Chicken Tacos

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Spring Lettuce Salad with Roasted Asparagus

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The rolling hills surrounding Lexington, Kentucky--some of the country's most expensive rural real estate--are used primarily for Thoroughbred grazing. "But outside that 15-mile ring are great farms," says Amber Huffman, the Jackson family's private chef. She features farmers' market lettuces here, which get warmed by roasted asparagus.

Roasted Asparagus with Almonds

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Raw and Fried Tuscan Kale and Brussels Sprout Salad

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This flavorful salad from Brooklyn's Battersby restaurant showcases the contrasting textures of raw and crisp, fried kale and brussels sprouts in a tangy Southeast Asian dressing.

Brussels Sprout Salad with Toasted Sesame Vinaigrette

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Whole Wheat Spaghetti Primavera

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Feel free to substitute or add whichever seasonal vegetables you have on hand for this easy primavera dish.

Whole-Wheat Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce

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Shaved Asparagus Salad with Oranges and Pecorino

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A quintessential spring salad, this dish is refreshing and filling.

Shaved Raw Asparagus with Parmesan Dressing

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Angel Hair Pasta with Red Pepper Pesto and Basil

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Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson (an F&W Best New Chef 2005) creates a simple summery sauce by blending roasted red peppers with traditional pesto ingredients, like basil and pine nuts, to toss with cool angel hair pasta. The pesto freezes beautifully and is also delicious spread on grilled cheese sandwiches or swirled into soups

Angel Hair with Green-and-Yellow-Tomato Sauce

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Texas Smoked Salmon Tartare

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These spicy, tangy little hors d'oeuvres are chef Dean Fearing's take on the classic combination of smoked salmon, red onion and capers–he throws in roasted garlic, lime juice and jalapeno and replaces the standard cream cheese with sour cream. To make the dish especially Southwestern, he serves the tartare on tortilla chips. "Everything is good on a chip," he says.

Spicy Salmon Tartare with Cabbage, Green Beans & Herbs

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Leek-and-Pecorino Pizzas

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You'll want to eat this pizza every day for the rest of the year.

Alsatian Pizza

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Spring Vegetable and Sunflower Panzanella  

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Italian Peach Panzanella

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Bruschetta of Spring Vegetables

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The challenge of preparing spring vegetables is in preserving their fragile color, texture and sweetness. Paul Bertolli's approach is to stew them gently with onion, garlic and olive oil; the vegetables cook gradually in the water they render. Since the cooking time for each one varies, simply add the next vegetable when the previous one has lost some of its crunch but is not softened to the core; the flavors will remain distinct yet also blend harmoniously. Spring vegetables are most flavorful when served lukewarm.

Wild Mushroom and Burrata Bruschetta

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Spring Dinner Ideas

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Spring Buckwheat Noodle Salad

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Crunchy Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce

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Grilled-Chicken Tacos

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Spring Lettuce Salad with Roasted Asparagus

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Raw and Fried Tuscan Kale and Brussels Sprout Salad

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Whole Wheat Spaghetti Primavera

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Shaved Asparagus Salad with Oranges and Pecorino

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Angel Hair Pasta with Red Pepper Pesto and Basil

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Texas Smoked Salmon Tartare

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Leek-and-Pecorino Pizzas

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Spring Vegetable and Sunflower Panzanella

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Bruschetta of Spring Vegetables

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Spring Dinner Ideas

1 of 12

Spring Buckwheat Noodle Salad

1 of 12

2 of 12

Crunchy Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce

2 of 12

3 of 12

Grilled-Chicken Tacos

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Spring Lettuce Salad with Roasted Asparagus

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Raw and Fried Tuscan Kale and Brussels Sprout Salad

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Whole Wheat Spaghetti Primavera

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Shaved Asparagus Salad with Oranges and Pecorino

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Angel Hair Pasta with Red Pepper Pesto and Basil

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Texas Smoked Salmon Tartare

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Leek-and-Pecorino Pizzas

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Spring Vegetable and Sunflower Panzanella

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Bruschetta of Spring Vegetables

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Spring Vegetable and Sunflower Panzanella  