The tender grassiness of just picked asparagus is what we're longing for after the darker, heartier foods of winter. Here, Asparagus and Parmesan Pastries.

It’s the season for brighter, fresher flavors. The tangy sweetness of strawberries, the tender grassiness of just picked asparagus, the refreshing sharpness of sorrel and the spice of young garlic and onions are just what we’re longing for after the darker, heartier foods of winter.

It’s an age-old craving, this desire to indulge in the tonic vegetables and fruits of spring.

Margie Thorpe, founder of Vegetable Husband, finds the arrival of spring has some of her customers thinking of tomatoes and other summer crops. She has to explain that tomatoes are going to be hitting their stride in late July. Instead, she tempts them with strawberries, our first local fruit of the year.

This summer will mark the fifth anniversary of Vegetable Husband, an online service that allows customers to order baskets of organically grown produce. Customers can start and stop their deliveries at anytime.

"I have commitment issues. When I joined my first community-supported agriculture program and wrote a check for hundreds of dollars, I was scared to death. I had no idea what I was going to get over the 16 weeks of the program or whether it would be a good investment for me," Thorpe said.

She decided that she wasn’t alone in those fears and created Vegetable Husband to make it convenient for people to support local farmers and enjoy organically grown food. Place an order online and the following Wednesday, a fabric-lined bushel basket with eight or so produce items will be delivered to your door.

Thorpe goes out early Wednesday mornings gathering produce from local farms within about an hour and a half of Atlanta. "I think about cooks when I’m selecting our produce. I always look for one component like an herb, fennel or garlic that I think of as the flavor of the week. If fruit’s in season, I include at least one. And then I round things out with dark leafy greens or other nutrient-rich vegetables, always making sure we’re not giving you too much of one thing or another," said Thorpe.

Gathering done, she heads to East Point, where she and volunteers hand pack the week’s baskets, arranging the contents so they’ll arrive in good shape, and always keeping aesthetics in mind. Then the volunteers fan out over the city making their deliveries. "We time it so our baskets arrive at the end of the business day. That way they’re not sitting around all day on someone’s porch, waiting for them to get home," said Thorpe. Generally they deliver about 60 baskets each week.

Thorpe says her customers are as excited about the arrival of strawberries as she is. "If there are children in the family, they see those strawberries and you’d think we had put a chocolate Easter bunny in there. It’s great to have something you can enjoy right out of the basket," she said.

For those who want to invest a few minutes of preparation in their strawberries and are thinking beyond dessert, chef Ron Eyester of Rosebud and the Family Dog demonstrated three fast strawberry recipes at the Morningside Farmers Market recently.

He made strawberry syrup, steeping the strawberries in a sugar syrup with cloves, cinnamon sticks and cayenne. The result was eerily reminiscent of cinnamon Red Hots. Eyester’s suggestion for serving is to combine the syrup with a glass of ginger ale or champagne.

He tossed other strawberries with roasted beets, thinly shaved fennel, Marcona almonds and arugula, then dressed everything with lemon olive oil, sweet chile sauce and red wine vinegar for a colorful salad. Finally Eyester sauteed strawberries with sorghum syrup, sherry, balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of black pepper and served the result over grits.

Eyester provided no recipes, just inspiration to create similar dishes at home.

Of all the spring vegetables available at the farmers market, sorrel may be the least familiar. "I’ve only been eating sorrel for the last five years. One of my farmers introduced me to it," said Thorpe.

She appreciates the tart, lemony flavor which is somewhat of a surprise from what looks like a leaf of lettuce or arugula. She adds a little chopped sorrel to her salads but she really loves sorrel pesto, which she adds to eggs, spreads on sandwiches and uses as a base for a variety of crostini. Like strawberries, sorrel is rich in vitamin C, just what we’re craving after all the vitamin K and calcium of our winter diets.

It’s time to celebrate the arrival of our prettiest season and treat yourself to a bite of spring.

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CLASSIC SORREL SOUP

Hands on: 30 minutes Total time: 30 minutes Makes: 6 cups

This delicious soup is adapted from one provided by chef Ian Forrest of FLIP Burger Boutique. There’s a reason this recipe is a classic. "I especially love sorrel because (it’s) super easy to grow at home. This soup is one of the easiest, and most delicious, ways I have found to incorporate this local and seasonal ingredient," said Forrest. Homemade chicken stock will make for the thicker, most luxurious soup.

To prepare the sorrel, rinse the leaves and remove any tough stems. Thorpe likes this soup with the addition of roasted potatoes. She cuts young fingerling potatoes into small chunks, rubs them with olive oil and then roasts in a 400 degree oven until golden brown and tender, about 20 minutes.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup chopped leeks, green onions or ramps

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade

5 cups chopped sorrel (about 3 small bunches, 6 ounces)

Salt to taste

½ cup cream

2 egg yolks

Sorrel Pesto, for garnish (see recipe, below)

Roasted potatoes, if desired (see note, above)

In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add the leeks, green onions or ramps and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and cook gently 5 minutes. Remove lid and stir in flour, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Remove from heat.

While the onions are cooking, in a large sauce pot, bring stock to a low boil. Add sorrel and reduce heat so liquid is simmering. Cook until sorrel is mostly wilted, about 2 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover soup and stir in cooked onion mixture. Stir together and taste for seasoning.

In a small bowl, whisk cream and egg yolks together. Add a ¼ cup hot soup to cream mixture and whisk together. Add another ¼ cup of soup, whisk and repeat once more. Pour the hot cream mixture back into the pot of soup, continuing to whisk. Make sure soup is just below simmering and cook 5 minutes. Serve immediately garnished with sorrel pesto and roasted potatoes if desired.

Adapted from a recipe by Chef Ian Forrest of FLIP burger boutique.

Per 1-cup serving: 165 calories (percent of calories from fat, 65), 10 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 14 grams fat (7 grams saturated), 104 milligrams cholesterol, 62 milligrams sodium.

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SORREL PESTO

Hands on: 10 minutes Total time: 10 minutes Makes: ¾ cup

Pesto is very forgiving. Substitute any nut or seed you’d like. For a vegan version, use an equal amount of nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan. This pesto is so good, you’ll use it as a sandwich spread, mix it with yogurt for a veggie dip, stir it into scrambled eggs or mix it into a salad dressing. To prepare the sorrel, rinse the leaves and remove the stems. This recipe comes from Becky Striepe who blogs for www.vegetablehusband.com.

1 ½ cups roughly chopped sorrel (1 small bunch, about 2 ounces)

½ cup whole almonds

¼ cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic

¼ cup grated Parmesan

Salt and pepper

In the jar of a blender, combine sorrel, almonds, olive oil, and garlic. Process until the ingredients make a paste as chunky or smooth as you prefer. Move mixture to a medium bowl and stir in Parmesan. Season to taste. Pesto may be made up to 3 days ahead of time and refrigerated. The color will darken.

Adapted from a recipe provided by Becky Striepe, www.glueandglitter.com.

Per 1-teaspoon serving: 35 calories (percent of calories from fat, 81), 1 gram protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace fiber, 3 grams fat (trace saturated fat), trace cholesterol, 11 milligrams sodium.

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GREENS & STRAWBERRY SALAD

Hands on: 10 minutes Total time: 10 minutes Serves: 4

This recipe may remind you of those spinach-strawberry salads with poppy seed dressing that were popular a decade ago. As a matter of fact you can make this salad with lettuce, spinach, arugula, tender young Swiss chard leaves or whatever leafy green you prefer, alone or in combination.

The addition of other spring greens and walnuts and the lighter dressing update this gorgeous salad. Roasted fresh beets would be another springtime addition.

½ cup chopped walnuts

4 ½ teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 stalk green garlic, thinly sliced

2 cups sliced strawberries

1 bunch small green onions, thinly sliced

½ cup (2 ounces) shaved and crumbled Parmesan

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons aged balsamic vinegar

4 cups butter lettuce, leaves torn into bite-size pieces

In a small dry skillet, toast walnuts over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer walnuts to a salad bowl and allow to cool.

In the same skillet, heat one teaspoon olive oil over medium heat and add green garlic. Saute just long enough to bring out the aroma, about 1 minute, and add to the walnuts in the salad bowl.

In a medium bowl, combine strawberries, green onions, Parmesan, pepper, salt, vinegar and remaining 3 ½ teaspoons olive oil. Toss gently to combine.

Arrange greens on serving platter. Top with strawberry mixture and sprinkle with walnut/green garlic mixture. Serve at once.

Adapted from a recipe provided by Margie Thorpe, www.vegetablehusband.com.

Per serving: 220 calories (percent of calories from fat, 67), 9 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 17 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 8 milligrams cholesterol, 257 milligrams sodium.

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ASPARAGUS AND PARMESAN PASTRIES

Hands on: 25 minutes Total time: 50 minutes Makes: 48

One- or two-bite appetizers are always a little fiddly, but worth it for the pretty presentation. The asparagus cooks perfectly here, slightly crisp but completely tender. No precooking required.

Thorpe likes this recipe served alongside a salad. "Spring harvests are so abundant in salad greens; it is extra exciting when the asparagus patches start producing. This recipe is a nice way to not overcook your prize spring harvest and have an appetizer or a side dish that looks like you spent all day preparing," said Thorpe. Dill patches are just sending up tendrils at this time so they taste of spring, too, but substitute basil or another herb if you prefer.

½ cup grated Parmesan, divided

¼ cup part skim ricotta or Neufchatel (about 2 ounces)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Zest of ½ lemon 48 stalks asparagus, tough ends snapped off

1 (14.1-ounce) package prepared pie crusts

1 egg, beaten

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir together ¼ cup Parmesan, ricotta or Neufchatel, dill and lemon zest. Cut asparagus spears on the diagonal into 3 pieces. Reserve bottom third of asparagus for another use.

Roll out one pie crust to a 10-by-15-inch rectangle. Spread half the cheese mixture over crust. Cut crust into squares, about 2 ½ inches per side. Working with one square at a time, arrange 2 pieces of asparagus including one tip diagonally on each square. Fold one corner of pie crust over asparagus, then fold opposite corner over and press lightly to seal. Asparagus ends should be peaking out. Arrange on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining squares.

Repeat process with remaining crust, ricotta mixture and asparagus and arrange on second baking sheet. Brush all pastries with egg and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Bake pastries until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Adapted from a recipe by Margie Thorpe, www.vegetablehusband.com.

Per pastry: 55 calories (percent of calories from fat, 51), 2 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 3 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 5 milligrams cholesterol, 81 milligrams sodium.