Dishing Spring

Make a few small adjustments to what you usually prepare for supper, and you can introduce spring to the table. In fact, you don't need many ingredients to suggest a lighter approach. We use cream and pasta cooking water to make a sauce, toss it with long strands of spaghetti, peas, and button mushrooms, and sprinkle the top with chives. As other newly harvested vegetables come into the market - sweet spring scallions and thin-skinned new potatoes, mild fennel, tender bulbs of garlic, peppery arugula - ease them into your nightly repertoire. Tuck fresh herbs under the skin of small chickens before roasting them on potatoes and onions, or toss arugula and radishes with a minty cream dressing. The temperatures outdoors may not cooperate, but it will be balmy

PASTA PRIMAVERA
SERVES 6

Other ingredients can be mixed with the pasta, but nothing should dominate this subtle dish. Cut half a dozen asparagus spears on an extreme diagonal into 1-inch pieces and cook them in boiling water until bright green. Add them to the pasta with the peas. Or, for smoky accent, mix in 1/2 cup of ham cut into matchsticks. Baby fennel, thinly sliced and roasted until tender, will add crunch.

Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound dried spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccine
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 pound button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen peas
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (for sprinkling)
2 tablespoons fi nely chopped fresh chives
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Bring a stockpot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 8 minutes or until the pasta is not quite tender (it should need about 2 minutes more cooking). Dip a glass measuring cup into the pasta cooking water and remove 1/2 cup.

Drain the pasta into a colander and transfer to a large bowl. Add the olive oil and toss gently; set it aside.

While the pasta is cooking, in a large heavy skillet (which will hold all the pasta later), melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add the mushrooms and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms give up some of their liquid.

Add the peas and pasta cooking water. Bring the mixture to boil, turn the heat to low, and cook the peas for 2 minutes (for frozen peas) or 4 minutes (for fresh peas) or until they are almost tender.

Add the cream and basil and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, tossing gently, to heat it through and finish the cooking.

Spoon the pasta into large shallow bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan, chives, scallions, and pepper. Serve at once.

CHICKENS WITH HERBS, POTATOES, AND ONIONS
SERVES 6

Small kosher chickens flatten nicely, once cut up the backbone.

2 small chickens (2 1/2 to 3 pounds each)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh lemon thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons olive oil Salt and pepper, to taste
2 pounds small new potatoes, each cut into 3 slices
2 bunches spring onions, trimmed, or 12 small white onions
3 cloves garlic, peeled
Olive oil (for sprinkling)

Set the oven at 400 degrees. Have on hand a baking dish large enough to hold the two flattened chickens.

Set a chicken on a cutting board, breast side down. Remove the giblets and use paper towels to wipe out the inside of the bird.

With kitchen shears, snip up one side of the backbone. Open the two cut sides like a book. Turn the chicken over and press the middle firmly with the heel of your hand to flatten the chicken. (If you like, remove the entire backbone.) Do the same with the other bird.

In a small bowl, combine the thyme, parsley, chives, mustard, oil, salt, and pepper. With your hand, make a pocket along the breast of each bird between the skin and the flesh. Use a spoon to rub the flesh with some of the herb mixture. Set the chicken aside.

In the baking dish, combine the potatoes, onions, and garlic. Sprinkle with enough olive oil to moisten lightly. Add salt and pepper.

Push the vegetables to the side of the dish; add the chickens, skin side up. Rub some oil onto the skin of the birds and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Roast the chickens for 50 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thighs registers 170 degrees. Transfer the chickens to a carving board and set in a warm place to rest.

Turn the oven temperature to broil. Slide the baking dish under the broiler for 2 minutes, watching the vegetables carefully, to crisp their tops.

Carve each chicken into 4 pieces (2 breasts and 2 whole legs). Return the pieces to the baking dish, and serve at once.

SPRING SALAD
SERVES 4

1 bunch radishes, trimmed
1 bunch arugula, stemmed
2 baby fennel, trimmed
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Salt and pepper, to taste

Slice the radishes thinly. In a bowl, combine them with the arugula.

Slice the fennel as thinly as possible. Add it to the arugula mixture.

In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt and mayonnaise until the mixture is smooth. Add the mint, salt, and pepper. Stir well.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss again. Serve at once.