I have a very vivid memory from my childhood involving mint. My aunt walked my siblings and me through her garden and had all of us try a fresh mint leaf. At the time, it tasted like nothing but toothpaste with an odd, chewy texture. Let’s just say I didn’t love it, and that unpleasant taste stayed on my tongue for quite some time afterwards. 

Now that I’m older – with a small, city-size garden of my own – I have much more appreciation for the bright, refreshing herb. Which is a good thing, considering it grows with a vengeance. This time of year, there’s so much of it that there is no guilt in plucking up several roots in order to make use of the aromatic herb in every recipe possible.

A typical go-to for mint in this gardener’s kitchen is cocktails. But sometimes, testing liquor-based recipes in the middle of the workday just doesn’t seem appropriate. And since most other herbs grown around this kitchen get turned into pesto, the only logical idea was to use this mint in its own pesto creation.

I love the crisp, peppery bite of a raw radish, and I honestly never thought to cook them. It turns out they completely transform when cooked, becoming sweeter and a bit earthier. My new favorite way to enjoy them is to simply sauté them in a little butter until they’re mostly tender but retain a little bite. 

I also don’t like to forget about the often tossed radish greens, which are the most nutritious part of the radish. This simple dish uses an entire bunch of radishes, combining cooked radishes and the radish greens with pasta. A little lemon juice brightens up the flavors and buttery panko breadcrumbs provide some nice texture.  The vibrant pink radishes against the greens make for a dish that’s as beautiful as it is tasty.

For Easter dessert I always crave a ricotta pie from Modern Pastry in Boston’s North End.  Alas, I don’t have one reserved this year.  The craving hit me last minute so I hadn’t planned a trip into town, hadn’t even thought of placing an order at the busy bakery.  In these last few days before Easter Sunday, anyone without a reserved pie (like me) will be out of luck.  The lines at Modern Pastry will be long, every last pie and pastry spoken for.