Spring Vegetable Recipes NZ

Spring in New Zealand runs September to November, and it is the moment the vegetable drawer stops being all root vegetables and starts being green again. Asparagus, peas, broad beans, new potatoes and the first proper salad leaves, all of them cheapest and best right now. Here is what is actually in season month by month, and what to cook with it.

What's Included

A plain month by month list of what is in season in New Zealand through September, October and November, then the recipes grouped by hero vegetable so you can shop first and decide second. There is also a section at the bottom on what to do when you have far too much of one thing, which in spring is usually silverbeet.

What's In Season in New Zealand Spring

Spring produce moves fast. What is expensive and disappointing in the first week of September is cheap and excellent by the middle of October, so it pays to know roughly where you are in the season.

September, early spring

• The first asparagus appears, and it is expensive. Worth it once, for the novelty
• Spinach and silverbeet in abundance
• Spring onions, lettuce and rocket coming back into the shops
• Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage still going strong
• Leeks and carrots carrying over from winter
• Kumara at good value
• Last of the navel oranges and tangelos, and kiwifruit at its best
• Avocados heading into their peak

October, spring proper

• Asparagus hits its stride and the price drops. This is the month to eat it constantly
• Peas and broad beans
• New potatoes, waxy and thin skinned
• Radishes, watercress and plenty of salad leaves
• Spinach and silverbeet still going
• Strawberries start arriving and get better every week
• Rhubarb at its best

November, late spring

• Last of the asparagus, so make it count
• Peas and broad beans at their peak
• First courgettes of the season
• Cucumber and hothouse tomatoes appearing
• Strawberries everywhere and finally cheap
• Central Otago cherries right at the end of the month

Asparagus

The defining New Zealand spring vegetable, and the season is short. Six or eight weeks and it is gone until next year, so this is not the time to be precious about it. The salad is the one to start with, and the risoni and the tart use half a bunch each, so a single bunch covers both of those.

Grilled Asparagus Salad with Green Goddess Hummus - Charred spears over a herby green hummus with jammy eggs and a lemon crumb made from the heel of a loaf.

Springtime Risoni with Peas and Asparagus - Cooked like a risotto so it goes creamy with no cream, with pea purée through it.

Leek and Ricotta Tart with Asparagus - A sheet of puff pastry that comes out looking like a restaurant dish.

How to find the end of a spear: the bottom is woody and no amount of cooking fixes it. Snap or cut about an inch off the base. If the spear is thick, take a bit more.

Leeks and Spring Onions

Leeks bridge winter and spring, which makes them one of the most useful things in the shop right now. They are also filthy, and washing a whole leek does almost nothing, so cut it open first and then rinse.

Charred Leeks with Harissa Oil and Toasted Nuts - Charred hard in the pan, then steamed soft in the same pan, with harissa over the top.

Peas and Broad Beans

Fresh peas in the pod are lovely for about three weeks and then they are starchy. Frozen baby peas are picked and frozen within hours, sweeter than most supermarket fresh, and a quarter of the price. I use frozen most of the year without apology.

Peas with Caramelised Onions and Lemon Garlic Breadcrumbs - A bag of frozen peas turned into something you would serve to people.

Miso Pea Purée in Crispy Tortilla Cups - Party food out of a bag of peas and some leftover wraps.

Spring Greens

Spinach and silverbeet are the workhorses of a New Zealand spring garden and they arrive all at once. These three between them will get through a very large amount of both.

Spanakopita, Greek Spinach Pie - The classic way to use an enormous quantity of greens in one go.

Easy Saag Halloumi - Saag paneer, but with halloumi, which is easier to get and holds its shape.

Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes with Herb Sauce - The last of the winter artichokes with a bright green spring sauce over them.

New Potatoes

Thin skinned, waxy and sweet, and they do not want peeling. Scrub them and leave the skins on, which is less work and better food.

Weekend Potato Rosti - Crisp outside, soft inside, and a proper weekend breakfast.

The Crunchiest Roast Potatoes Ever - The full method, including the bit most people skip.

Rhubarb

Technically not a vegetable anyone treats as one, but it is at its best right now and it is in half the gardens in the country.

Cinnamon and Rhubarb Cake - Sharp fruit against a warm spiced sponge.

Three Spring Dinners From One Shop

If you would rather have the week planned for you, this is a whole spring shop with three dinners costed out of it.

3 Budget Dinners Under $50 NZD with Risoni, Quesadillas and Leek Tart - Fourteen items, $49.69, three dinners and the lunches after them.

Mushroom Quesadillas with Crispy Potatoes and Slaw - The midweek one from that shop, and the reason a bag of slaw earns its place.

What To Do With a Glut

Spring gluts are green and they all land at once. A few things that genuinely help.

Silverbeet and spinach: blanch it, squeeze it dry in a tea towel, and freeze it in portions. It collapses to almost nothing and it is ready for spanakopita or saag any time. Do not freeze it raw.

Asparagus: it does not freeze well and it does not keep. Stand the bunch upright in a centimetre of water in the fridge like a bunch of flowers and it will hold three or four days instead of two.

Rhubarb: chop and freeze it raw on a tray, then bag it. It goes straight into a cake or a compote from frozen.

Radishes and lettuce: these are the ones people waste. Radish tops make a peppery pesto and the radishes themselves are very good roasted, which almost nobody does. Limp lettuce revives in ice water for twenty minutes.

Herbs going over: blitz with oil and freeze in an ice cube tray.

Why This Collection Works

Spring is the easiest season of the year to eat well on very little, because everything that comes into season arrives cheap and in quantity at the same time. Asparagus, peas, silverbeet and new potatoes are all at their lowest price in October and November, and they are all at their best then too, which does not happen at any other point in the year.

After twenty years in professional kitchens the habit I have never lost is buying what is good rather than what is on the list. It is how restaurants keep food costs down and it works exactly the same way at home. If asparagus is cheap this week, build two dinners around asparagus and stop trying to make a January recipe work in October.

The other thing worth saying is that spring produce does not need much doing to it. Char it, dress it properly, season it hard. That is most of it.

Related Pages

Seasonal Vegetable Recipes NZ - The full year, split into the four New Zealand seasons.

Zero Waste Recipes for Every Kitchen Scrap - Asparagus ends, leek tops and pea pods all have somewhere to go.

Savvy Suppers Club - Five dinners for under $85, every week.

Spring is short and asparagus season is shorter. Six weeks from now the good stuff will be finished and we will all be on to courgettes, so cook it while it is here and cook it often. Everything on this page is built around what you can actually buy this month at a price that makes sense. Have a look at what is cheap this week and start there.

Enjoy!

Del x

What is in season in New Zealand spring, month by month, with the recipes to cook it.