When spring comes in Paris, I tend to feel like spending less time in the kitchen – which is a good reason to make roast chicken thighs with thyme. It’s a supremely French dish and supremely easy. The chicken is coated with olive oil and sprinkled with thyme leaves. While it’s roasting, you can make the side dishes of your choice – or go read a book or look out the window at the budding leaves. Within a short while, your dinner will be ready.
Poulet rôti au thym / Roast chicken with thyme
I served roast chicken with thyme this week when a guest came over for dinner, the main question being what to serve with it. Since it marries well with practically anything, choices are endless. This time, as I had fresh basil on hand, I chose to make pasta with walnut pesto, which also is very quick and easy. (Strip the leaves from a bunch of basil and combine in a blender with one clove of garlic, a handful of walnut bits, salt, black pepper, grated parmesan and enough olive oil to make a paste, then pulse until smooth.)
For a light springtime supper, you could serve the chicken with, for example, asparagus with parmesan, tomato salad, artichokes vinaigrette or a classic French green salad., with fresh berries with cream for dessert. For a more elaborate meal you could add rosemary potatoes, bulghur with red onions and mint, risotto with peas and mint or spicy lentils. And for a fancy dessert, you could make a charlotte aux fraises or a rhubarb crumble.
My thoughts turned to spring as soon as I stepped out of the airport upon returning to Paris in mid-March from my book tour. The trees along the highway were already budding and some were in flower — a big contrast from Chicago, where it had been snowing when I left. I found this surprising as it felt about a month early, and my surprise deepened when I got home to my boulevard, where the plane trees already had leaves. It makes you worry about the planet. People here are saying we have another hot summer in store.
In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying the annual rites of spring, repotting the strawberries on my balcony and going down to the quais along the Seine to buy a new cherry tomato plant. There are pansies, nasturtiums and campanula in bloom along the balcony rail, and a I set a pot of muscari (grape hyacinth) in the bathroom. It’s all very lovely.
Here’s wishing you a delightful start to spring. Despite all the troubles around the world, we can still take pleasure in the beauty of nature returning to life and in enjoying a simple, tasty springtime meal with friends and loved ones. Happy cooking.
