A Menu to Celebrate Mother’s Day, Spring and More

May is a celebratory month for us! It brings the sunshine, our anniversary, Steve’s birthday and we begin the celebration with Mother’s Day.

I don’t usually see my mother for Mother’s day, she lives in Georgia and I’m in Maryland. I send flowers, an Amazon gift card, or something boring like that but we still like to celebrate our friends and family.

The garden is flourishing, the Swiss chard has come back, rhubarb is glorious and the herb garden is flourishing. Since I saw the first of the spring bounty I’ve been planning this menu. I’ve invited our “Mom” friends over for the afternoon for an early Mother’s Day celebration. It was a beautiful late luncheon in the garden.

Celebrate Spring Menu

Goat Cheese Marinated in Fresh Herbs served with Handmade Flatbread

Carrot and Ginger Soup with Lemon
Domaine Pichot “Coteau de la Biche” Vouvray Sec 2015, Loire Valley, France

Poached Salmon with Salsa Verde
Farro Salad with Spinach and Pickled Shallots
Domaine Pichot “Coteau de la Biche” Vouvray Sec 2015, Loire Valley, France
and/or
Albert Bichot “Roche Granit” Juliénas 2015, Beaujolais, France

Strawberry Rhubarb Crostata with Ice Cream

Coffee and Tea

This menu celebrates spring and the first of the garden produce. The rhubarb and parsley grow in our herb garden. I substituted the spinach with sautéed Swiss chard harvested from some volunteers that overwintered. I’m so grateful for our local Whole Foods where I can shop locally and sustainably for the remainder of my shopping list. The marinated goat cheese and handmade flatbread comes from there, as does the salmon, pre-made pastry crust, local strawberries, etc.

Once I have a the menu planned I stop by Bin 201 where their knowledgeable staff helps me to pair the perfect wine for the meal. The pairings for today’s menu give us a choice between a white and a red. We started with the white for the appetizers and the soup and gravitated to the red for the first course but both wines pair beautifully with the salmon.

The Wine

Domaine Pichot “Coteau de la Biche” Vouvray Sec 2015, Loire Valley, France
Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley of northern France can be one of the longest-lived of all wines. Some sweeter Chenins from outstanding vintages can develop for 50 years or more in bottle! The Pichot family has been growing grapes in the middle Loire since the 18th century, and the Coteau de la Biche estate is one of two owned by the family. This dry Chenin Blanc is smooth on the palate, with round flavors of orchard fruits, almonds and honey mingling with classic chalky Vouvray minerality.

Albert Bichot “Roche Granit” Juliénas 2015, Beaujolais, France
This Beaujolais Cru is located in the north of the region where the soil is varied with pockets of granite, schist, volcanic areas and blue rocks. Juliénas in general is an earthy, weighty wine with a deep ruby red color and strawberry, violet, cinnamon, red currant and peony aromas, yielding to flavors of candy, vibrant red fruit and herbs. A perfect accompaniment to Salmon.

I am so grateful for the  Annapolis Whole Foods who provided all of the amazing produce, seafood and cheese for the creation of this post. I’m a devoted Whole Foods shopper but any opinions or findings you read here are solely my own.

As always, I am most grateful for you, my community and will always do my best to serve you in introducing products that you will find the most useful, amazing, helpful, to keep you sane in the kitchen, at home and on the streets.