Grand Trio of Spring or Eating Ferns

 
  
I saw the ad on Epicurious and I couldn't resist. The offer was for something called the "Grand Trio of Spring" offered by Earthy Delights, http://www.earthy.com. This consisted of morel mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns and ramps.

Other women go weak in the knees for a great pair of shoes -- me, I come unglued with cool, new foods.

I'd heard of fiddlehead ferns, and had gone so far as to buy some at Whole Foods (which is incoveniently located more than 30 miles away because the demographic/marketing geniuses have decided our community isn't "upscale" enough to support a gourmet grocery -- grrrrr). But I never cooked the ferns I kind of looked at them for a few weeks and then threw them out. I was intimidated. I'd had a similar experience with morels a couple of years back. I stumbled on them at the local farmers market and bought them. But by the time I went to use them, just two days later, they had gone bad. I sometimes forget how perishable truly fresh food can be.

But these ingredients, along with the ramps -- billed as wild leeks -- piqued my interest. And in the middle of the night, when my husband wasn't around I ordered some. It turns out I'd actually pre-ordered them and it took about a month until the order was ready to ship. You had to promise to be home to receive it, or Earthy Delights wouldn't guarantee the shipment. Right now that's no problem for me.

I received my package Thursday and called some close friends and my daughter and her boyfriend over for a dinner featuring my Grand Trio of Spring. I'd already decided -- during the preceding month I'd given it a lot of thought -- that I wanted to incorporate them into a Gruyere/Parmesan souffle. I also had a bunch of artichokes from my backyard. I've made the happy discovery that artichokes thrive with neglect -- my kind of plant.

I envisioned a meal with artichokes served with various sauces -- hollandaise, and a variety of dips from Trader Joe's: Spicy pepper dip, spicy hummus, garlic hummus. I added some frozen taco appetizers from Trader Joes as a last-minute nod to Cinco de Mayo.

I invited everyone over for 8, but Kim and Dennis didn't show up until about 15 after, which is about normal for them. Rob was going to be home late and Lindsay was at the hospital watching the 16-year-old sister of a friend have a baby. I was able to serve the hors d'ouevres and chat. When Rob came home, I was able to start beating the eggs for the souffle. I had everything else ready to go. But the souffle took it's time, and it wasn't served until about 10:38 p.m.

This is such a thing with me. The food just doesn't seem to want to cook in the time allotted. Oh well, at least everyone has a good sense of humor.

The Grand Trio souffle was worth the wait and everyone loved it. Well, everyone except Rob who kept running around going, "You're going to serve people ferns???" He pretended to eat the souffle with a minimum of retching sounds, but it was a bit out of his small culinary circle of foods. Thank God for peanut butter and jelly or the man would starve to death.

To make the Gruyere/Parmesan souffle go to the April 6, post on this blog: Expanding My Horizons. Make the souffle as directed, but fold in about two cups of the sauteed ferns, mushrooms and ramps, cooled, as the last step before cooking.