Awakening the hope within

and a recipe for cod with fennel ragout to celebrate the vernal equinox

There’s a feeling of expectancy in the air.

The first day of spring is upon us, and I don’t need an artificial springing forward of the clocks to tell me so. Even before last weekend, the birds have been calling to me earlier and earlier with their morning song. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” they beckon. “The shoots are poking through the ground, the snow is melting. Wake up!”

Today is also Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Always coincident with the spring equinox, Nowruz is a 13-day festival centred around the earth’s cycle, fresh starts, growth, rebirth and a celebration of nature. The lead up to Nowruz might also involve khune tekuni: spring cleaning. It literally means shaking the house up. In the act of opening the windows wide, beating the carpets, washing the windows to a sparkling shine, the path forward is paved for fresh beginnings.

It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!

- Mark Twain

What is it we want? So many things, right now. Immeasurable. Small and personal. Vast and wide-reaching. Above all, we want the promise of spring to seep into the heart of darkness that surrounds us.

It’s no coincidence that as the earth awakens and shrugs off its winter mantle, it shakes our foundations. We are propelled forward, sometimes with our heels dragging, towards the sun.

Spring drew on…and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.

- Charlotte Brontë

It’s been easy to fall back into despair, to lose faith, to abandon hope. But the earth around us is wise beyond measure. She marches forward with a springtime palette of tender green, daffodil yellow, crocus white, rhubarb pink. Awakening us to the possibility of tomorrow. Above all, spring reminds us that hope is perhaps Mother Nature’s best gift.

I don’t know about you, but I am finding hope in this season of new beginnings and a perhaps naive faith in human goodness.

Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer.

- Anita Krizzan

Indeed.

Pan-Seared Cod with Creamy Fennel Ragoût

adapted from Gourmet Today

serves 2, with leftover ragout to enjoy later

Nowruz is a festival of beautiful food, tables laden with joyful goodness. Herbs play a big part in the celebration, their fresh and green notes harbingers of the seasons ahead.

While this dish is neither Persian nor herb-laden, a simple pan-seared white fish will surely find its way to the Nowruz table. The deceptively simple fennel ragout in this dish gets its green note from the fennel frond garnish, and there’s plenty left over to enjoy the next day. To add a touch of authenticity to your dinner, try this recipe for sabzi polo, the traditional herbed rice pilaf served with fish for the Nowruz feast.

Ingredients

2 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide strips

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 fennel bulbs, stalks discarded and bulbs cut lengthwise into 1-inch wedges. Reserve some of the green fronds for garnish

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 1/3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2/3 cup heavy cream

½ cup chopped drained sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil)

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 6-ounce pieces cod or halibut fillet (about 1 inch thick)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. Cook bacon in a 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil to fat in skillet, then cook fennel with salt and pepper over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.

2. Add broth, cream, tomatoes, and garlic to fennel and cook, partially covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until fennel is tender and cream is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.

3. While fennel cooks, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy cast iron or non stick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Season fillets with salt and pepper, then sauté 4 minutes. Turn over and sauté until just cooked through, about 3 minutes more.

4. Stir mustard and bacon into fennel ragout and season with salt and pepper. Serve cod over fennel ragout.