heady fiddles in the berkshires

upon arrival into the berkshires, massachusetts i wanted to cook with some local ingredients, and of course pasta came into the situation.  although they are out of season now, you can find fiddlehead ferns and morel mushrooms in the spring around the area .  Here is a pasta i came up with off of the top of my dome using fiddlehead ferns. i was quite pleased with it, texture, taste, and the uniqueness of it....
i dont ever measure anything but below is a rough recipe i threw together....

 spaghetti con fiddleheads e zafferano!

spaghetti

fiddleheads

saffron

parmigiano reggiano

1 raw egg yolk per person

salt/pepper

olive oil

garlic

     while spaghetti is cooking take a small portion of the cooking liquid out and into a cup.  place a pinch of saffron into the water and let sit. this will release the colour and essence of the saffron (like when making risotto alla milanese). saute fiddleheads in olive oil, when almost done throw the garlic in until finished, sprinkle with salt. take your al dente pasta and throw it into the pan with the fiddleheads.  add the water with the safron in it and stir well... place into bowls, for each bowl top with parmigiano reggiano, and one raw egg yolk in the middle as pictured above.

I really like how the saffron and egg yolk are together and it works well with the fiddleheads.  if you dont use fiddleheads you can substitute with asparagus.  when you mix the pasta the yolk will coat your spaghetti and create this delicious texture with the slightly damp spaghetti from the cooking water... 

we drank a 2006 chianti from monsonaccio, because it was handy.  it worked well, but of course an italian white (maybe a falanghina) would go well too.

buon appetito!