I had all this spring stuff, and I thought I shouldn’t really let it just lie around any longer, so I found a way to put it all together with some great pasta.

• six or 7 ounces of fiddlehead ferns from Tamarack Hollow Farm, washed vigorously in several changes of water until the brown chaff had been removed [this entertaining, slightly droll video, ‘How to quickly clean fiddleheads‘, could be pretty useful useful if you have a lot of fiddleheads – and more outdoor space than indoor running water], blanched for 2 or 3 minutes, drained, dried, added to a large antique high-sided copper pot in which 3 stems of thin spring ‘Magic’ garlic from Windfall Farms had been heated in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, the fiddleheads sautéed briefly before 6 ounces of sliced chestnut mushrooms from the Union Square Greenmarket stand of Gail’s Farm in Vineland, New Jersey were added and themselves sautéed until they were tender (3-5 minutes), a bit of both crushed dried habanada pepper and dried smoked serrano pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm added along with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, before 10 ounces of pasta from a one kilogram package of Afeltra 100% Pasta di Gragnano I.G.P. rigatone from Flatiron Eataly, cooked al dente and drained, were added and stirred in along with some reserved pasta water, over high heat, until the liquid had emulsifeid, arranged in shallow bowls and topped with some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano (aged 24 months) from Chelsea Whole Foods Market
• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont) red, Oddero, Barbera d’Alba Superiore, 2015, form Flatiron Wines
• the music was Handel’s more-or-less-1732 opera- ‘Acis and Galatea’, performed by The Sixteen