When the first local asparagus of the season arrives in the market, I’m so eager for the fresh taste of spring that I prepare them as simply as possible.  A few minutes on the grill or steamer, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a little salt and pepper are all that’s required for a feast.

By now, though, I’m ready to experiment.  This year my focus is asparagus and eggs, a traditional French combination.

The classic poached egg over asparagus wouldn’t work, since I can’t bear even the sight of runny yolks.  (There go my foodie credentials!)  So I decided to substitute softly scrambled eggs as a suitably delicate complement to the grassy spears.

The inspiration for this dish is a flan in Jacques Pépin’s capstone cookbook, “Essential Pépin” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011).  If your idea of a flan is a sweet Spanish custard, you’re in for a surprise.  This version is more like an easy Gallic version of fritatta. Continue reading Dressing up asparagus →