I have taken a very long break from posting. The reason for this is no that my work has been slammed (although it has), or that I’m lazy (although I am), or even that I’ve been reading the Golden Compass trilogy in every spare second I’ve had (although I have), it’s that I’ve been hibernating. Honestly, I’m sick of winter. I’ve made the stews, I’ve simmered the soups, I’ve roasted the root vegetables, I’ve baked the casseroles, and I’m so done with it. I decided to go to sleep and not wake up until it was spring again.

 

And so I have. Then this weekend when Nick went out for his run he came back with news, “Every breath of air tastes lie onions! I can’t run in this.” That was the sign that my hibernation was over; wild onions are out. Spring is literally in the air.

 

Wild onions are delicious treats that are probably hiding out in your yard this very moment. The tops look a bit like chives or garlic scapes, tall and rounded with a slight curl to the tips. They are a dusty shade of green and if you snap of one of the stems you’ll smell the perfume of onions in the air. The bottoms of the onions are much like spring onions. They are small, white bulbs with a mild, sweet onion flavor.

 

Nick and I went out for a walk today and dug up a batch of the onions. Possibly the local park won’t be too thrilled when they find a big hole in their turf where a patch of wild onions used to be, but my need for dinner trumps their need for pretty grass. I’m going to use the tops as a substitute for chives in my Deviled Eggs this Wednesday. The bulbs are going to get sliced up and used in a vegetarian fried rice dish for dinner. And in case you couldn’t tell, the first eggs of spring are out as well. The chicken won’t be ready for about another month, but we have eggs already for deviled eggs and fried rice.

 

I must admit, I’m feeling a little guilty that I’ve left you with a month of winter and no recipes. So, as an apology to you and a farewell to winter I’ll give you my final winter recipe. A few weeks ago I found some beautiful leeks at the farmer’s market. I already had some bacon from Ward’s so I decided that Baked Leeks with Cream and Bacon would make a nice dish at dinner. I had never made baked leeks before, nor had I ever read a recipe for them. However, as usual I had an idea of what the finished dish should look like and as usual it was nothing like the traditional recipe when I did go back and read it. Unlike the recipe from my French cookbook, my recipe uses whole, halved leeks, both white and green parts.

 

I hope you enjoy the recipes, and more than that I hope you enjoy the coming recipes that I’ll be sharing with you this spring.