<Green Eggs and Ham>

We are creeping up to Easter and our offices are full of orange (plastic) eggs with special treats insude for our brunch on Sunday. Although we won't be serving Green Eggs and Ham on Easter (you can check out what we will be serving here), I thought it would be fun to reinterpret Dr. Seuss' dish. For this recipe, hard-boiled eggs are dressed with a delicious salsa verde (with parsely, anchovies, capers, garlic, tarragon and celery leaves). I added roasted asparagus because they scream "SPRING" and we have started to get the very first spears into the kitchen. I simply roasted them with olive oil, salt and pepper. The "green" eggs and asparagus lie on two slices of prosciutto. I topped it off with a spray of spicy arugula to give it a bite. The whole dish makes a simple supper dinner to help tease out the Spring.

Roasted asparagus with green eggs and ham

{serves 4}

4 extra large eggs

1 cup roughly chopped parsley leaves

1/4 cup roughly chopped celery leaves

1 tablespoon roughly chopped tarragon

1/4 cup chopped capers

2 anchovy fillets, rinsed and roughly chopped

Zest of 1/2 lemon

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 celery stalks, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch dice

1 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane

1 pound asparagus

8 slices prosciutto

1 cup of small leaf lettuces such as arugula or mache

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Put the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Set the saucepan on the stove over high heat. Bring the water to a boil, and then immediately remove the pan from the heat. Allow the eggs to sit in the hot water, covered, for 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool. Peel under running water and coarsely chop. The yolks should be bright yellow and creamy.

Combine the parsley, celery leaves, tarragon, capers, anchovies and lemon zest in the food processor with 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil. Process to a rough paste. It should not be a smooth puree. Transfer to a bowl with the celery and garlic, season with salt and mix until well combined. Mix in the rest of the oil if necessary. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add the eggs.

If the asparagus are large, snap off the fibrous portion off the root end of the stems. Peel the remaining part of the stem. If the asparagus are pencil thin, simply snap the ends. Toss the asparagus with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a sheet pan in a single layer. Roast in the oven, 4-5 minutes, or until the asparagus are tender and start to brown.

To serve, arrange 2 slices of prosciutto on each of 4 plates. Lay the asparagus on top. Spoon the green eggs over the asparagus. Garnish with arugula or mache.