In love with spring!

Spring. I’m in love with spring. I’m in love with spring produce. It is officially spring, but I continue to count the days until spring produce. I am obsessed with delicate little green English peas and those difficult to prepare but seriously yummy fava beans. Soon, everything I cook will start with a sauté of pungent green garlic and I simply won’t stop boiling endless amounts of tiny, red skinned, new potatoes. Local artichokes – yippee! – are just showing up at the market and are certainly at their peak. They are one of my all time favorite spring treats, steamed until soft, dunked into little bowlfuls of melted butter with a squeeze or two of Meyer lemon. Oh, and asparagus will be here soon! It seems like an eternity since I dipped a perfectly tender stalk of local asparagus in homemade mayonnaise or shaved them endlessly over my favorite salad of to-die-for greens from Paul’s Produce, shaved parmesan, and hearts of palm. It’s springtime and I am smitten with eggs – I love them year round when fried in plenty of salty butter and left to drip over a slice of rustic toast or scrambled with soy and ginger into leftover rice – but during spring, I am certainly, most definitely, head over heels for them simply prepared.

I can understand the popularity of an oversized omelet, stuffed to overflowing with smoky ham, oozing melted cheese. Who, for crying out loud, wouldn’t gobble up a spicy pile of huevos rancheros, a messy mixture of creamy beans and warm tortillas? I can appreciate the fact that the love for eggs takes all forms and comes in an endless amount of preparations. Although for me, I am in love with simple. For me, there is nothing more delicious on a Sunday morning or for a late night supper, than a perfectly runny, simple poached egg. Truly delicious, happily perched on top of a double toasted English muffin, the gooey yolk snuggling comfortably into the crunchy nooks and crannies, finished with nothing more than a drizzle of peppery olive oil and a generous sprinkling of crunchy, good salt. A poached egg or two makes an elegant, not to mention ridiculously easy, spring meal when served atop a shallow bowlful of those aforementioned spring vegetables, all quickly sautéed with nothing more than a knob of butter, a splash of chicken stock, if you desire, and a few snips of fresh chive.

I believe that egg salad has sort of gotten a bad rap over the years. It’s sadly earned a reputation for being a fattening deli staple, mashed to death and laden with yucky sweet mayonnaise. Unfortunately, that is typically the case. Good egg salad? Oh, it is so good. Local eggs, boiled until the yolk is just set and still golden, gently chopped and mixed with a lemony homemade mayonnaise, possibly a tiny dash of curry powder or a handful of chopped dill folded in. Now, that is good egg salad, completely addictive eaten straight from the bowl with a spoon or even better yet, when generously piled on a slice of grilled bread and eaten open-faced. Even better when finished with a slice or two – or three! – of smoked salmon or topped with peppery watercress and always, always, that generous sprinkling of good salt!

I don’t eat eggs all that frequently, so when I do, I am passionate about where they’re coming from. I hadn’t lived in Sonoma all that long when I plonked down my first six bucks for a dozen eggs from the farmer’s market. All the time thinking, “I can’t believe I just paid six bucks for a dozen eggs.” They were the most lovely shade of pastels that I had ever seen, each one a soft brown and pale, pale blue, or a milky, creamy white, a faded, grassy green. They were almost too beautiful to eat. I kept them in an antique Ironstone bowl on my counter where I could gaze at them each time I came into the kitchen. Simply sitting there, like a painting, I realized those eggs were worth the six dollars. I mustered up the gumption one evening to crack a few into my favorite little mixing bowl, with plans for an adorned omelet supper, nothing more than a pinch of fine herbs thrown in…très Française. The first egg slipped from it’s shell and landed gently into the bowl. I stood motionless for many minutes as I peered into the bowl. That egg practically brought tears to my eyes. It’s yolk, the most brilliant orange, sat high above its white, a more gorgeous egg I know I had never seen before. I cracked the other egg and it too was stunning. As I whipped them excitedly with a fork, I knew there and then that there was just no going back. As I sat down to my omelet that evening and took my first bite, the first bite of the best omelet I have ever eaten, I knew that I was never going back to those grocery store eggs.

On The Menu
Next Friday, March 30, at 6:30 p.m., join the Community Café for another delicious, wine-filled winemaker dinner with Tom Meadowcroft of Meadowcroft Wines. The four-course meal consists of many scrumptious sounding dishes like fried oysters on greens with buttermilk dressing, a bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin with a Cabernet reduction and a molten chocolate cake, all perfectly paired with Meadowcroft wines. The Community Café’s winemaker dinners are always fun and always affordable. Tickets are $39.95 plus tax and gratuity. The seating is limited, so be sure to make your reservations soon by calling 938.7779.

• Out in the Vineyard’s “Big Gay Wine Train” is back for its second year onboard the Napa Valley Wine Train next Saturday, March 31, at 6:30 p.m. One of Wine Country’s most festive LGBT events, this is an evening consisting of an elegant five-course dinner paired with wines from some of California’s most awarded winemakers. Tickets are sure to sell out, so be sure to reserve your space today by calling 800.427.4124. For more information visit outinthevineyard.com.

• Several fun cooking classes and events coming up at Ramekins. Next Wednesday, March 28, beginning at 6:30 p.m. join Ramekins Executive Chef Doug MacFarland for a hands-on class entitled “Dress Up Your Chuck.” Students will learn unique preparations and sauces for affordable cuts of beef. Another fabulous sounding event, “An Elegant Spring Dinner,” with Joanne Weir takes place at Ramekins on Thursday, April 19.This intimate class, limited to twelve students, features a menu of spring delicacies from the James beard Award-winning chef. For information or to reserve your space for these and/or all the other great cooking classes and events at Ramekins, call 933.0450 or visit ramekins.com.

• Andrea Davis, of Sonoma’s Quarter Acre Farm, is leading a class that any backyard garden enthusiast surely should not miss. On Sunday, April 1, from 10 a.m. until noon, her “Tasty Tomato Talk” is always incredibly informational and covers many unknown ways to ensure your tomatoes are the most delicious. The classes will be held at the Backlot Garden at 243 West Spain and the cost for each class is $10, which includes light refreshments. Reservations are necessary and can be made by emailing quarteracre.sonoma@gmail.com.

• Frances Mayes, author of the super famous Under the Tuscan Sun, will be at the Left Bank Restaurant in Larkspur also on Sunday, April 1, for a special dinner and book signing to promote her new book, “The Tuscan Sun Cookbook.” A toast to her experiences in Italy, her new cookbook evokes the days spent roaming the countryside in search of local specialties. This lovely sounding dinner offers a unique opportunity to dine with Mayes and feast on dishes inspired by the cookbook. The $110 ticket is inclusive of the meal and includes a signed book. Call 415.927.0960 or visit bookpassage.com to make your necessary reservations.

Spring Vegetables topped with a Poached Egg
Serves six as a light entree or first course

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 shallots, finely diced
1 pound fresh English shelling peas, shelled and blanched
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch slices
3 pounds fresh fava beans, shelled, blanched in boiling water 1 minute and outer skins removed
Two 3-inch strips lemon zest removed with a vegetable peeler and sliced crosswise into julienne strips
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon snipped, fresh chives
6 poached eggs

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 tablespoon butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and sauté shallots, stirring, until tender, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove shallots and set aside. Add remaining tablespoon oil and 1/2 tablespoon butter and heat over moderately high heat until foam subsides and sauté asparagus with salt to taste, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. Add fava beans and sauté, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Add zest, lemon juice, peas and shallots, and salt and pepper to taste and sauté, stirring, until just heated through. Divide the vegetables into six shallow bowls and top each with a poached egg and a sprinkling of chives. Serve immediately.

Kristin Jorgensen is one of Sonoma’s most passionate, food obsessed residents. In this weekly column, she covers all the delicious happenings, foodie events and restaurants in Sonoma, the rest of Wine Country and beyond.  Find her blogging daily as the Cook at thecardiganandcook.com or via email at foodandwine@sonomasun.com.