There was a time when I used guanciale much more often than I do now, and sure enough, there it was when I looked on my own blog to see what I’d done in the past with fiddleheads in pasta.

That post, and that meal, was from 3 years back. Today I’d say that cured pork cheek really isn’t necessary when you have other assertive flavors in the mix.

• nine ounces of an artisanal orecchiette, made in Calabria by Pasta Forte, cooked al dente, tossed with a sauce produced by sautéing 2 ounces of chopped guanciale from Buon Italia in a large antique copper pot until slightly brown on the edges – and slightly crispy – before they were joined by 3 chopped ramp bulbs from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm which were sautéed until softened before a half pound or so of fiddlehead ferns [riccioli di felce, if they were eaten in Italy] from Tamarack Hollow Farm that had been blanched (one minute) were stirred in, along with a pinch or so of dried habanada pepper, ending by tossing in the thinly sliced green leaves of the ramps, the sauce seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper before it was combined with the pasta. placed in 2 shallow bowls, sprinkled with shaved 24-month-aged Parmesan cheese from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, a bit of Whole Food house Portuguese olive oil drizzled around the edges
• the wine was a Spanish (Castile-La Mancha) white, Pago Del Vicario – Blanco De Tempranillo 2018, from 67Wine
• the music was the album, ‘Alberto Posadas: Poetics of the Gaze’