HERALDING THE BEGINNING OF SPRING CROPS!!!!!

Our first crops are ready to harvest!  Last night I made my first asparagus and chive meal of the season.  They compliment each other beautifully and so we had to choose between chive and asparagus omelet or pasta with chives and asparagus.  Both are simple to prepare and because I also had some mushrooms on hand I chose the pasta dish and threw in some mushrooms.  I checked what pasta we had on hand.  Fresh pasta is the best, but since we didn’t have any in the fridge, I used the campanelle instead.  I quickly cooked the freshly picked and cut up asparagus in some olive oil and butter:  frying them, and then adding some water to steam them for a few minutes.  I put the cooked asparagus aside to cook up the mushrooms.  (I’m hoping to make the same dish next week with morels but haven’t found any yet).  While the pasta cooked, I added the mushrooms and asparagus together in the frying pan with some cream and salt and pepper, cooked it up quickly and then added the cooked pasta.  Add the chopped chives, toss it all with loads of parmesan, asiago or romano cheese and you’ve got the first meal cooked with fresh spring crops.  I can’t wait for the beginning of June when Full Plate Farm Collective will start offering their CSA shares!!!