Everyone here – everyone being most of the growers I buy from – says we’re three weeks behind the normal season.  This means that instead of jumping feet-first into the strawberries, those gorgeous harbingers of spring  are  trickling in.  And in Normandy, where the soil is still cold, they are  a pleasure yet to come.  

When it comes to asparagus we’ve got fat, white stalks by the bushel and the ton, direct from the Loire Valley.   Something about the cold soil and temperatures, the slow growth, the difficulty of harvesting in lashing rains has given it an extra burst of flavor. The French say that what suffers gains in flavor (that’s why a difficult weather year often gives fantastic wine), and I’d say that it is true.  In any case, we’ve been braising white asparagus with thyme, bay, and garlic and it is soooo elegant, nutty, and delicious. I’ve always been a fan of green asparagus over white, but this year may just change my mind.

As for much anticipated baby carrots, beets, purple onions, new garlic, new potatoes…sob! They are still gathering their resources from the soil.  There will be some, but not the abundance we’re used to. 

FLASH!!!  Train strikes are bedeviling us (but they’re not as bad as advertised) and there are still some spots available in classes.

This begins to sound like a sad tale but it’s not.  Because what happens when nature doesn’t fully cooperate is that  one gets creative.  So, for class last week I needed spring greens for a special salad.  I could have gotten regular lettuces from the market – the heads are mini, but they’re fresh and delicious. But that’s not what I needed.  So I simply went into my garden and foraged.  At first glance, there wasn’t much, then I looked closer and snipped baby arugula leaves (miniscule), wild miner’s lettuce ( Claytonia perfoliata), new tarragon shoots (which appeared overnight, as if by magic), new oregano and tiny mint leaves, chive shoots, the interior leaves from escarole, anise hyssop fronds,  and even bear garlic with blossoms (ramps).   In no time I had enough salad for six.  

As I stooped to snip and pinch I remembered what I’d learned when working on ITALIAN FARMHOUSE. I was in Friuli, specifically the province of Udine on the Slovenian border, talking with growers, grandmothers, and chefs there, then tasting the simplest of farm meals like a frittata made with bitter greens.  “My grandmother made this fritatta,” a woman told me “and she told me they started to make it because they were so poor and all they had to eat were the weeds in the garden and a few eggs.”  The fritatta was delectable, simple, pure, almost elegant.  I heard the same thing repeatedly and it taught me that privation leads to creativity.

Privation is a big word when speaking of this season in Paris or Louviers.  We are hardly deprived. We are simply “held up” in our cravings.  And that, too, leads to creativity. So, for those of you in a similar hold up, I offer you some lovely recipes for this season!  And I must add, that while the seasonal offerings are few and late, their flavor is double what it usually is, which lends credence to the adage “All good things are worth waiting for.”

Here’s what we’ve got: spinach, some green asparagus, tons of white asparagus, some strawberries, a few bunches of carrots, purple and white onions, even some skinny new shallots, baby heads of lettuce, miniature endives (they’re supposed to be gone by now), avocados (ok, they’re from Spain), mushrooms (they’re year round, but still…)…

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