And so have the recipes!

With April showers signifying the start of spring, we are getting excited about the springtime veggies about to pop up at grocery stores and farmer’s markets.  Though we love a winter roasted root vegetable as much as the next, our recipe ingredients are getting a bit stale and need a change-up.  Here are some of our favorite springtime recipes and some tips on how to incorporate your favorite Caves of Faribault cheeses into your meals.

 

AmaBlu Cheese Compound Butter + Radishes

One of the spring veggies we look most forward to are radishes.  The spring radish season is short and sweet, since they love to grow in a slightly colder climate.  When shopping for a seasonal snack, look for French Breakfast Radishes or Easter Radishes at the store.  Both of these varieties are mildly spicy at the beginning of the season, and get a bit bolder at the end of the season.  Radishes and butter are a classic snack combo, but being Blue cheesemakers, we’ve created a trio for your tastebuds. Take 4-6 oz of AmaBlu (room temp) and ½ stick of butter (room temp) and mix until combined.  Serve with radishes and some flaked sea salt.  For an even more spring-like taste, add some fresh chopped chives to the mix.

 

St. Pete’s Select + Avocado, Strawberry & Pecan Salad

Move over apples, citrus, and pears—it’s the beginning of berry season!  With strawberries popping up all over, it’s time to celebrate with a springtime salad.  Grab your favorite lettuce mix, an avocado, some fresh strawberries, candied pecans and St. Pete’s Select for this one.  Don’t be fooled by this simple salad, though; even with a small amount of ingredients, it’s still packed with flavor.  For a dressing, we like a simple mustard vinaigrette.  Mix together ¼ cup olive oil, 2 tbsp. rose wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar), 1 tsp honey, 2 garlic cloves chopped and 2 tsp grainy mustard.  The combination of the bright strawberries, piquant Blue cheese and tangy dressing will having your tastebuds screaming, “Spring!”

 

AmaGorg + Spinach & Spring Pea Risotto

Risotto is always a good choice when cooking with seasonal veggies.  The plain base of the dish doesn’t overpower the delicate flavors in the newer, spring vegetables.  This simple recipe for Spinach, Pea and Gorgonzola Risotto highlights the fresh spinach and spring peas of the season.  Our AmaGorg adds a hint of buttery sweetness to this delicate dish that plays up the sweetness in the fresh veggies.

Felix + Spinach Salad with Morels & Bacon

Our Felix Blue cheese is quite the incredible cheese.  It is sweet and fudgy with umami flavors that are brought to you by its one-of-a-kind rind.  With flavors like that, you need a salad with some bold ingredients.  Try a hearty spinach salad topped with mushrooms and bacon alongside this bold Blue.  Its mixture of woodsy flavors and fresh green vegetables is a great way to bid farewell to winter and say hello to spring.

 

Cherubic + Kale & Spring Pea Mac & Cheese

In Minnesota, it’s a roll of the dice if the “April showers” are actually rain or snow.  You have to be prepared to hunker down for a day or two for that last blast from winter.  The best cure for the Minnesota spring blizzard?  Mac & cheese, of course!  We love the Spring Gouda Stovetop Mac n’ Cheese from A Cozy Kitchen.  Our Cherubic Gouda has a magical way of making an already creamy dish into something ultra-creamy.  The buttery, lactic, mild flavors in the cheese pair perfectly with kale, spring onions (we sub these for the leeks when we can find them) and fresh peas.

 

St. Helga’s + Swiss Chard, Asparagus, & Pea Frittata

Okay, okay, we get it—enough with the spring peas already!  But excuse us if we say we politely disagree and keep using them in our kitchen.  We couldn’t highlight spring recipes without featuring a breakfast recipe, or a breakfast-for-dinner recipe.  One of our go-to’s is the Spring Frittata with Asparagus & Peas from Blue Flame Kitchen.  Though we respect their love of goat cheese, we like to sub in our St. Helga’s European Swiss-style cheese.  The buttery and sweet nature of the cheese spotlights the fresh and light flavors in the first batch of asparagus and spring peas of the season.