Fiddleheads are the season's star shoots

LEXINGTON -- Deep green, earthy spirals wound as tight as coils, fiddleheads burst into the spring produce bin for a few weeks. They're shoots, and they're at their best when tightly coiled. They grow into graceful ostrich ferns -- but alas, the pretty ferns are no longer edible. Fiddleheads' spiral shape gives rise to their name -- they look like the tip of a violin.

At Wilson Farms here, fiddleheads share space with bundles of green and white asparagus. But they sit unnoticed. Produce manager Tony Casieri says, ''People who know what they are come looking for them, but most just seem intrigued. They have no idea how to cook them."

They do look different than anything else at the farm stand, and, unlike asparagus, they're not around long enough for people to become interested. Also, fiddleheads still have their paperlike scales intact.

This is what happened to Wilson staff member Paul Vlasos on a fishing trip in Maine years ago: ''We were picking fiddleheads by the side of the road with a local guy. We had about 5 pounds, and I was wondering how we were going to get off all the brown, papery scales," he says. ''My friend took us back to his garage, opened up an old washing machine, threw the fiddleheads in, and turned on the spin cycle." There was no water in the machine, and the scales flew off. ''Now that's Yankee ingenuity for you," says Vlasos. The fishermen cooked the little coils and tossed them with lemon juice and cider vinegar.

Unless you know what you're doing, however, picking fiddleheads in the wild isn't advised; some fern varieties are not edible.

As for removing the papery scales at home, that is the tedious part. But the cooking couldn't be simpler. Steaming, boiling, or sauteing in butter are the recommended methods. Inspired by Vlasos's story, I tried the centrifugal force of my salad spinner to dislodge the scales. What did the job just as well was a short soak followed by a few rinses.

The flavor of a fiddlehead is clean and subtle, reminiscent of both asparagus and green beans, so a light treatment is best. In Japan, fiddleheads (called warabi) are highly prized. A few are artfully placed in a small dish, and a simple dressing of soy sauce and wasabi is drizzled from a spoon.

Fresh local fiddlehead ferns are available at farmstands and farmers' markets through early June.


Fiddlehead ferns with wasabi soy sauce dressing
Wasabi is the green mustard paste served with sushi. It is sold in tubes at Asian grocers and some supermarkets. Serves 2.

1 1/2 cups fiddleheads (scant 1/2 pound)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 -1 teaspoon wasabi paste
2 teaspoons water
2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1. In a large bowl in the sink, rinse the fiddleheads under the tap to dislodge the brown scales. Drain and repeat several times. Trim the ends off the ferns (last piece on the coils).
2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the fiddleheads and cook for 8 minutes or until they are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Drain them into a colander and set them aside.
3. In a small bowl, mix 1/2 teaspoon wasabi paste and water until smooth. Whisk in the soy sauce. Add more wasabi, if you like. 4. Transfer the fiddleheads to a bowl and spoon the dressing over them. Toss gently and serve warm or at room temperature.

Baked to perfectionAt Somerville's La Contessa, the prized ricotta pies have a longstanding following

SOMERVILLE -- Paper bunnies and decorated eggs adorn the picture windows at La Contessa Bakery Cafe here. Huge chocolate Easter eggs wrapped in colorful cellophane hang above the counter waiting for excited children. On a top shelf, along with a statue of St. Anthony, are boxes of sweet Italian bread baked in the shape of a dove. Amid these confections are the bakery's prized ricotta pies, their light brown crust embracing a sweet filling, which dominate one of the glass-fronted display cases. Felix Sabatino and Annette Serrao, the lively brother-and-sister team who own La Contessa, are getting ready for Easter. Between 500 and 600 pies will emerge from the bakery's ovens.

For more than 30 years, Antonio Bruno, the head baker, has been making the pies, beginning with pasta frolla, a sweet pastry crust enhanced with touch of orange oil. It cradles and covers the filling of ricotta cheese, sugar, and the powdered vanilla called vanillin. The fresh whole milk ricotta (pronounced ri-GHOT-ta or ri-GOT) comes from Purity Cheese of Quincy and the North End, another longstanding business. A slice of the pie, also called torta di Pasqua -- or Easter torte -- for its special place on the holiday menu, reveals a dense white filling that is both moist and not too sweet, surrounded by a soft, flaky crust. Ricotta pies are eaten throughout Italy, but with many variations -- some with candied fruit, anisette flavoring, or chocolate. La Contessa's plain version is southern Italian in origin.
In some respects, time has stood still in this corner of Somerville. While rents increase and trendy cafes move in, La Contessa continues its holiday traditions in much the same way they might be celebrated in Italy. Three tables offer customers a place to sit, sip strong coffee, and eat a pastry. No one here is working on a laptop -- though cellphones ring now and again.

On this bright day, Sabatino is handing out slices of another Easter staple -- pizza chiena (GAYN-a), sometimes called pizza ripiena, which means ''stuffed," or pizza rustica. At the end of Lent, people who have given up meat can enjoy it again in this lattice-topped pie, which holds a 4-inch layer of cheese studded with cold cuts.
Serrao works the counter, addressing customers as ''honey" or ''sweetie." She came to La Contessa first, in the early 1970s, when she was 17; her younger brother followed her a while later. He was 12. At the time, the bakery was owned by ''Papa" Joe Magliaro. The siblings were raised in Somerville, and Sabatino describes himself as ''a chunky kid in orange shorts standing on a crate washing dishes." By 12, he was practicing making frosting roses after work. Magliaro told the boy: ''You have the hand," Sabatino remembers.

After stints at Mike's Pastry in the North End and at several hotels, Sabatino bought La Contessa in 2000 with his parents' help. Actually, Armando and Emanuela Sabatino, who were from the Avellino province in Campania, had saved their son's earnings without his knowing. The boy thought that his $20 weekly La Contessa wages were going directly to St. Benedicts school in Somerville. ''I thought I was paying for my schooling. But secretly my dad opened a savings account for me and deposited all the money. He did that for all his six kids," Sabatino says softly.
Over the years, Sabatino has continued the tradition started by Magliaro, who was known as ''Joe Cookie" by legions of Somerville kids. ''Joe told me to always give a kid a cookie when they walked in the door," says Sabatino.

Bruno, the baker, has been making Italian pastries since 1972. ''I got this job the second day I went looking and never left," he says, scooping rings of dough from water boiling in a dented copper pot. ''We are making tarali," he says. ''Like an Italian bagel."
With three owners in 48 years, La Contessa is a fixture in Davis Square. ''It's a little island," says Bob Baker, an Arlington resident and patron for most of his 53 years. ''If I'm going through Davis Square, I'm going to La Contessa for a rum cake slice for my wife, Lin," he says. Linda Baker has celebrated her birthday with a La Contessa rum cake since she was a little girl. Elizabeth Pizzi of Belmont practically swoons over the thought of the bakery's lemon squares. And cannoli are shipped all over the country.

The bakery is usually filled with a cast of local characters, many at their usual tables. They convey all the enviable bonhomie and caring of a genuine community. Frank Privitera, a local lawyer, talks politics while he sips coffee and greets customers, urging everyone to try a cannoli. Bruce Curliss, a loyal customer who has become Sabatino's best friend, calls La Contessa ''a great little treasure." He shares a daily corner table with several local businessmen, who enjoy coffee, pastry, and friendly insults from Serrao. ''She loves us," they insist. They flip a coin to see who pays.

When Serrao's cellphone rings, the theme from ''The Godfather" fills the room. Linger long enough and you might even get her dating advice. Playing matchmaker for a young woman recently, Serrao says, ''We're all miserable and married, why shouldn't she be?"

And the day goes on, as customers hear her cheerful greetings and the pastry cases are refilled again and again. ''Goodbye, sweetheart," she calls out as someone leaves the shop. By the end of the day, she's said it dozens of times.

La Contessa Bakery Cafe is at 420 Highland Ave.,
Davis Square, Somerville, 617-623-9193.

From one pot, a bounty of Japanese flavors

In the family of Japanese one-pot wonders -- sukiyaki among them -- the standout dinner is yosenabe, a mixture of seafood, chicken, tofu, glass noodles, and vegetables. Diners use their chopsticks to dip into a communal earthenware pot on a portable burner. Inside the pot is a simmering broth filled with the seafood, vegetables, and other ingredients. Diners lift out a piece of fish, a shiitake mushroom, or savory Chinese cabbage, then dab the food into a citrusy piquant soy sauce seasoned with grated daikon.
The meal is leisurely. Friends and family make their way through a platter of beautifully displayed raw ingredients, adding them to the pot as they eat. Fish and chicken go in first because they take the longest to cook. The simmering liquid gives the food flavor and results in a delicious broth, enjoyed at the end of the meal with clear noodles, also cooked in the broth.
Most households are not equipped with portable tabletop burners, but you can make this meal with a few adjustments. Use a heavy-based pot with a lid. Heat the broth, let the seafood, poultry, and vegetables simmer briefly, and then bring the pot to the table.

Recipe Yosenabe

The Japanese hot pot of seafood, chicken, and vegetables is served with a soy dipping sauce. Have a soup bowl plus a smaller bowl for the sauce for each diner.

Serves 4.

FOR THE BROTH

5 cups water
3 chicken wings
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons sake or dry white wine

1. In a large, flame-proof casserole, bring the water to a boil. Add the chicken wings and return to a boil. Skim the broth. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the wings -- bone them and add the meat to soup -- and skim off the fat.
2. Add soy sauce, sugar, and sake or wine. Bring to a boil and set over low heat.

FOR THE SAUCE

½ cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons lemon juice
½ daikon (long white radish), peeled
Pinch of cayenne pepper

1. In a bowl, combine the soy sauce and lemon juice. Pour the mixture into a small pitcher.
2. Using the small holes on a box grater, grate the radish and place it in a small serving bowl. Sprinkle the radish with the cayenne and mix well. Set aside.

FOR THE POT

1 bundle (2 ounces) rice stick noodles
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
3/4 pound skinless, boneless firm white-fleshed fish or salmon
8 littleneck or hard-shell clams
8 fresh shiitake mushrooms
½ small head of Chinese cabbage, quartered
1 cake (14 ounces) firm tofu, cut into 8 pieces
2 carrots, sliced diagonally to ¼ inch thick
4 scallions, sliced on the diagonal into 8 pieces each
16 pea pods

1. In a bowl, combine the rice sticks and enough boiling water to cover them. Set aside for 20 minutes. Drain noodles and cut in half.
2. Cut the chicken into 1-by-3-inch strips. Cut the fish into 8 pieces.
3. Rinse the clams. Soak the clams in cold water for 10 minutes. Arrange the noodles, chicken, fish, and clams on a large platter.
4. Remove stems from the mushrooms. Wipe the caps with wet paper towel. Carve an x into the caps. Add the caps to the platter.
5. Add the cabbage, tofu, carrots, scallions, noodles, and pea pods to platter. Set aside.
6. To the simmering broth, add half the chicken, 4 clams, 4 mushrooms, half the cabbage, and half the carrots. Reduce heat and cover the pan. Simmer for 3 minutes.
7. Add half of the remaining ingredients, except for the pea pods. Cover and cook for 3 minutes until clamshells are open. Add 8 pea pods and remove from heat.
8. Divide the cooked chicken, fish, and vegetables among 4 bowls. Add a little broth to each bowl.9. Pour a little of the dipping sauce into each of the 4 small bowls. Add a spoonful of the spicy daikon and serve at once. Dip the cooked food into the sauce. Cook the remaining ingredients in the same way.

Two delectable desserts for cooling off during the summertime Granitas, sorbets are frozen delights

Two great frozen desserts are granitas, which are coarse-grained Italian ices, and sorbets, which have a creamy texture even when they're not made with milk.
For both, begin by pureeing the fruit that is in abundance now. Add super-fine sugar and fresh citrus juice for a tart twist that adds depth to the fruit flavor.
Spend a few minutes with the fruit you've just juiced. Carefully scrape out the remaining shell of lemons, limes, oranges, or even grapefruits, removing the pith (white membrane) with a spoon and -- presto -- you've got serving bowls. Take a thin slice from the bottom of the bowl so it will stay level.
Sorbets can be made in an ice cream maker, but it isn't necessary. When you're done processing, heap the mixture into the bowls and freeze for several hours. Alternatively, you can add the puree directly and freeze; the result will be no less delicious.
For granita, put the base into a shallow pan in the freezer and "rake" it with a fork every 30 minutes for two hours. This breaks up the crystals as the mixture begins to solidify, giving it a rough, homey texture -- like a slush.
Fruit isn't the only base you can use. Leftover strong coffee makes a wonderful granita, too. Serve in espresso cups with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. Is it iced coffee or coffee ice cream? Another idea is to add vanilla-flavored yogurt to fresh-squeezed orange juice. Make individual servings by pouring into orange halves and you have the taste of a creamsicle.
Plan to enjoy your frozen confections the same day, when the flavor is at its peak.
Fruit icesMakes 3 cups2 cups fruit -- strawberries, mangoes, peaches
3/4 cup super-fine sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon lemon or lime zest
1. Combine fruit, sugar, and juices in a blender or food processor. Mix well.
2. Pour into a bowl and add the zest. Stir until combined.
3. Process in an ice cream maker according to instructions or pour directly into prepared fruit bowls.
4. Place fruit bowls on a cookie sheet and freeze for about 2-3 hours.
5. To make granita, pour fruit mixture into a shallow pan. Rake the mixture with a fork every 30 minutes until you have a slushy consistency. This takes about 2 hours.

Adapted from "How to Cook Everything," by Mark Bittman (Macmillan USA)

For picnics, toss together some sushi

Sushi rice is short-grain white rice that is cooked and mixed with rice vinegar and sugar. This, of course, is the rice you're biting into when you sit down to a plateful of sushi. What you put on or in the rice determines the kind of sushi.

But there are other dishes -- which don't require the skills of a trained chef -- to make at home with these delicate-tasting grains. One is something the Japanese call chirashi-zushi, which is perfect for a picnic.

Begin with the cool rice mixed with a little vinegar and sugar, and add crisp and highly aromatic vegetables and fish. Sweetly seasoned shiitake mushrooms along with briny shrimp, for instance, will offer both earthy and sea tastes. Toss the rice "salad" with pea pods, green peas, and cucumbers, and you have the important elements of the Japanese table: color, texture, and flavor.

Cookbook author and teacher Keiko Hayashi says that chirashi-zushi can be made in any style. On a recent visit to Boston, she said that regional differences come into play in this dish. For Tokyo-style, the rice becomes Edomae chirashi-zushi (Edo is the old name for Tokyo) and has lots of raw fish arranged on top of the rice. Osaka-style contains more vegetables, with cooked fish -- salmon or shrimp -- mixed into the rice and scattered on the top.

Another popular picnic food is omusubi, or rice balls. These are ubiquitous fare on school outings. In her version, Hayashi explained, she likes to highlight a single ingredient on top of the sushi rice, which she molds and wraps in a one step. Use smoked salmon, for instance, or try spicy radish sprouts and a slice of ripe avocado.

The chirashi-zushi and the rice balls begin with a long list of ingredients. Most, however, are not cooked, and all can be prepared in advance.

Making the rice is the most important part of the dish. While it's still hot, season it with the rice vinegar mixture because the hot rice will absorb liquid seasonings. The Japanese use a shallow wooden bowl made of cedar, but a wooden salad bowl -- even a glass bowl -- will do.

You'll want chopsticks in your picnic basket and chilled green tea or Japanese beer. And probably someplace quiet. The delicate food goes well with a tranquil setting.

Sushi rice

Serves 4

June 9, 2004

If you have a rice cooker, prepare according to the cooker's directions. Otherwise, use a heavy-bottomed pot.

3 cups short-grain white Japanese rice
7¾ cups water
5 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Extra rice wine vinegar (for the bowl)

1. Place rice in a heavy-bottomed pot. With water running, rinse the rice by stirring with your hand. Drain the water as it becomes cloudy. Repeat this process about 5 times until the water runs clear.
2. When all the water has been poured off, add 4 cups of water to the pot. Set aside to soak for 20 minutes. Drain.
3. Add the remaining 3 3/4 cups of water to the rice. Cover the pan and set it on medium heat. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer the rice on low heat for 10 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and let the rice sit for 10 minutes.
5. In a small pot heat vinegar, sugar, and salt until the sugar dissolves.
6. Rub a little vinegar around the inside of a large bowl. Transfer the rice to the bowl and with a wooden paddle or spoon make several diagonal slashes in the grains. Pour one-third of the vinegar mixture onto the rice. Carefully fold and lift the rice without mashing it down. Continue with the remaining vinegar mixture, adding it in two stages. Fan the rice with a magazine to cool it. The rice will be glossy.
7. Cover the rice with a damp kitchen towel until ready to use.


Chirashi-zushi

Serves 4

June 9, 2004

Make this "salad" of vegetables and fish with seasoned rice when you need a picnic or summer supper dish. Use cooked or smoked fish. Save raw fish for a time when you're not transporting food.

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vegetable oil
5 cups cooked sushi rice (see recipe)
½ pound cooked shrimp
1½ cups frozen green peas, thawed
½ pound smoked salmon, cut into matchsticks
½ English cucumber, seeded and cut into matchsticks
1 cup snow peas, blanched and thinly sliced Seasoned shiitake mushrooms (see recipe)
2 tablespoons shredded red pickled ginger (called kizami shoga at Asian markets)

1. In a bowl stir the eggs, sugar, and salt together. Rub the bottom of a 6-inch nonstick skillet with a drop of oil. Add one-quarter of the egg mixture. Swirl it around to spread into a thin crepe. Cook 1 minute or just until bubbles appear. With a metal palette knife, turn the crepe over and cook 30 seconds more. Turn out onto a plate. Fry 3 more crepes. Cut them into fine strips.
2. In a large bowl, place the sushi rice. Scatter three-quarters of the shrimp, peas, salmon, cucumber, snow peas, and shiitakes onto rice.
3. Gently fold the vegetables and fish into the rice.
4. Arrange the remaining shrimp, peas, salmon, cucumber, snow peas, and shiitakes on top of the rice. Garnish with egg strips and ginger.


Seasoned shiitake mushrooms

Serves 4

June 9, 2004

Add these sauteed mushrooms to all kinds of stir-fries and summer salads.

8 dried shiitake mushrooms
¾ cup mushroom soaking liquid
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)

1. In a bowl, combine the mushrooms and enough hot water to cover them. Soak for 30 minutes. Lift out the mushrooms (reserve the liquid) and rinse them. Cut them into strips.
2. In a saucepan, combine the mushrooms, 3/4 cups of the mushroom liquid, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms have almost absorbed the liquid.

Berry nirvana is in full swing, and the dessert Pavlova, a fluffy creation of meringue, will make you feel like you're floating on a cloud

Some desserts don't seem right without strawberries. Tarts would be missing their bright red color and glory, shortcakes their intensely aromatic topping, and cobblers their fruity filling. Pavlova, the famous round of crunchy meringue, wouldn't be as splendid without a crown of ripe red berries.

Pavlova is so popular in Australia, where some say it was invented, that the egg white dessert, topped with layers of whipped cream and fruit, is served in restaurants everywhere. The dish was made to celebrate the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova after she performed there in the 1930s. Apparently the cloudlike bed of meringue evoked the lightness of the beautiful dancer.

New Zealanders don't take Pavlova's association with Australia lightly. They claim the dessert as their own. "Not so fast," says Kiwi chef Susan Glynn, who maintains that Pavlovas are "an institution for festive occasions in New Zealand" and who offers proof that they were already being served by New Zealand matrons in the 1920s. The fact is that the sharing and tweaking of meringue cake recipes has been going on for a long time -- to everyone's benefit.

One of Glynn's restaurants, Suze Wine Bar in London, has Pavlova on the dessert menu. That dazzling version of the meringue is topped with liqueur-flavored whipped

cream and an array of fruits that include strawberries, mango, and raspberries. Your fork breaks through the outer layer of the meringue into a marshmallowlike center; cream and fruit perfectly complement the light, sweet crust. The dessert is not difficult to make at home. The meringue isn't hard, but you have to make sure that it behaves. So use only bowls and beaters that are absolutely clean and dry and egg whites at room temperature, and try to pick a dry day for baking. Humidity is not kind to baked egg whites.

I have tried making the meringue nests using whites separated from large eggs and Eggology, fresh egg whites that come in a container (available at many markets, including Whole Foods). Both whip up beautifully. Vinegar and cornstarch help make the crust crunchy and the center soft. You can vary the flavor by adding vanilla or some ground toasted almonds.

Some bakers like to begin the Pavlova in an oven that has been turned to 400 or 500 degrees and turned off when the meringue is placed inside. The whites "bake" while the oven cools. Others recommend baking the meringue in a low oven, such as 300 degrees, for about 1 1/2 hours. At that point, the oven is turned off and the meringue is left to finish baking in the cooling oven. This method, I found, yielded the best and most consistent results.

When the crisp whites emerge from the oven, pile the center of the round with whipped cream and berries, mango slices, and blueberries. You want the mixture to be colorful. Biting into Pavlova is like chewing on a sweet cloud.

Pavlova with berries

Serves 8

June 2, 2004

FOR THE MERINGUE

5 egg whites, at room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
1½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons distilled white vinegar

1. Set the oven at 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Use a 9-inch cake pan as a template to draw a circle on the parchment.
2. In an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks just begin to form. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until the whites are stiff.
3. Remove the bowl from the stand. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the cornstarch, followed by the vanilla and vinegar.
4. Spoon about three-quarters of the meringue onto the parchment paper in the designated circle. Use a longmetal palette knife to make a cake-shaped mound. Spoon the remaining meringue around the edge of the circle, forming a nest shape.
5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 1½ hours. Turn the oven off and let the meringue sit for 3 hours or until the oven is cold.
6. Lift the meringue from the parchment paper and transfer to a large, flat platter.

FOR THE TOPPING

2 cups heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
2 pints strawberries
1 mango, peeled and sliced
1 pint blueberries, picked over

1. Spread the whipped cream onto the meringue. Leave some berries whole and cut the rest into halves and quarters.
2. Arrange the berries, mango slices, and blueberries on the cream.
3. Cut into slices to serve.

Adapted from Susan Glynn

White Asparagus

Right about now the Germans are going gaga over white asparagus-- it is “spargel”

(asparagus) season. Actually it is white asparagus season in many European countries. Many of us only know the limp white spears we see in jars or cans; they are fine on a salad, but the fresh ones, while a bit expensive, are popping up in our markets now. For a real treat grab the first fresh bunch you see.

Although white asparagus are prized for a mild flavor and good looks, they also are known for their health benefits. Besides being high in Vitamins A and C, white asparagus are said to be good for the body’s filtering system. According to Wolfgang Gaertner of Berlin, some people eat them daily as a “cleansing cure.” Gartner laughed as he tried to explain this delicately: “As it affects the body’s liquid drainage system, it is quite obvious from the odor who’s been eating white asparagus.” This fact has been independently verified.

White asparagus grow in sandy soil and are the same variety as their green relatives - but the mounds have been covered to keep out the sun to prevent them from producing the chlorophyll that produces that gorgeous springtime green. Although our good buddy Kermit the Frog, says “it’s not easy being green,” for asparagus apparently it is. Helga Barebendreier, from Hamburg, says it is quite a sight to see fields of white asparagus. “You don’t see the asparagus at all, just mounds upon mounds of black plastic ‘igloos.’ The shoots never see the light of day until they are harvested.

The typical way to eat them is with melted butter or a Hollandaise sauce. It is it is traditional for Germans to eat asparagus with plain boiled potatoes and some salty meat, like Black Forest ham or schnitzel, explains Gaertner. His instructions are straightforward: “They are never cut, but left whole. You pierce the end of the stalk with a fork and bring them to your mouth and chew in sections until the very end.”

Cut about a thumbs-length off the bottom of the spear and peel from just under the tip.

If you have an asparagus pot, Ron Savenor, owner of Savenor’s Market on Charles Street in Boston suggests tying some twine around the bunch just under the head and another bit of twine just a few inches from the bottom. Fill the pot to just over half with water and a tablespoon of sugar. Add some lemon juice. If you don’t have an asparagus pot, use a sauté pan. Cook about 10 minutes or until just tender. Save the cooking liquid for use to make a Hollandaise sauce.

The asparagus that are available locally are now from Peru. Mark ---, the extremely helpful produce team leader at the Bread and Circus on River Street in Cambridge, says he usually has them on hand. But that is not the case at all Whole Foods stores. At other branches we were told that they can be ordered. Before making menu plans around white asparagus we suggest calling the market.

Let white asparagus take center stage at your table. With a glass of dry Riesling and some crusty bread you have a springtime meal that is light and satisfying.

“Guten Apetit!”

Shopping sources

Savenor’s Market
160 Charles Street
Boston
617-723-6328

Whole Foods
340 River Street
Cambridge
617 876-6990

Recipe

Wolfgang’s White asparagus in cream sauce - serves 2

1 bunch white asparagus
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt

Water to cook

For the sauce:

1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 - 1 ½ cup asparagus cooking liquid
¼ cup white wine
¼ -1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse asparagus and cut off about a thumbs-length from the bottom of the spears.
2. With a vegetable peeler, peel asparagus carefully. (You can reserve the peels to make a stronger base for the sauce).
3. In a pan that will hold the asparagus in a single layer bring about one inch of water to a boil. Add sugar, salt and vinegar.
4. Cook for 10 minutes at most. Remove to a plate.
5. Reserve liquid about 1 cup.
6. In the same pan, melt the butter and add flour and mix until smooth for about one minute.
7. Slowly add the reserved asparagus broth. Continue to stir until sauce thickens.
8. Add the wine and cream stirring constantly. Simmer for one minute. Lower heat
9. Place egg yolk in a small bowl. Add a little of the warm white sauce to the egg yolk and mix well.10. Slowly add the egg yolk to the cream sauce, mixing thoroughly. Cook another minute or two. Add more cream if the sauce is too thick. Pour over asparagus and serve immediately.