Dish 4: What NOT to Make from the Farmers Market

Oh dear Christ, this was a hideous experiment. I’ve been spot on and feeling rather proud these past few weeks of relatively impromptu cooking and writing here. But this? Oh God. It was like eating Lawn.  Pretty. But totally wretched.

To be fair, I added far too many Pea Shoots. But they smelled so delicious! And really, why plane wild Asparagus with a peeler when roasting them intact or halved is more delicious? I’m not sure where I went wrong, and I refuse to give you the botched “recipe” but suffice to say even throwing a bunch of minced green garlic and splashes of our Chardonnay for flavor bumps did nothing to help the situation.  The kids ended up eating Peanut Butter & Jelly and Dean and I split another bottle of wine.

The original recipe was a quick saute of:

• trimmed pea shoots — far too many
• 2 handfuls of sliced Shittake Mushrooms
• 1 bunch Wild Asparagus planed thinly (about 15 stalks)
• 2 Spring Garlics quartered long way and then sliced thinly

The saving grace was that this left over mulch was a divine last minute Brunch Fritatta for Easter. I reheated these limpy little greens in fresh olive oil and coarse salt. Threw it into a pie pan (remember cuteness is important!) and covered it in a quick “egg custard” consisting of:

• 4 whisked eggs
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 Tspn stoneground mustard
• salt & pepper
• a few grates of freshly shaved nutmeg

Dusted some left over parmesan cheese over the top and threw it in the Oven at 400’F for 30-ish minutes.  The verdict? PERFECTION.  I mean, as some gussied-up leftovers turned French-inspired Brunch Tart.

Happy Eating!