Farmers Market Breakfast

Springtime in DC is a treacherous time.  Will it be humid?  Rainy?  Ninety nine degrees out or 52?  How many tourists will I need to push down the escalators on the metro?  Three minutes into my morning commute today I immediately regretted not wearing tights.  Yes, the weather forecast says it will be 72, but when it's 43 degrees at 7:45am, my legs, they are a-shiverin.

However, with the springtime weather ups and downs comes some forms of sunshine: produce!  At the farmers markets!  Certainly, it is glorious.  There is really nothing that makes a weekend as lovely as a morning walk down to the bustling market, scoping out the vendors, doing some good people watching ... and of course, picking up fresh produce.

This is not a recipe, really - a recipe tends to dictate what you must make, whereas this is dictated by what is freshest and what you really want to eat.  Then you figure out how to put it all together.  Are the spring onions looking especially lovely?  Did you get some ramps? (Full disclosure: I can eat my weight in grilled ramps.)  What about asparagus? (Yes, that too.)  If you're especially lucky to snag farm fresh eggs, color me jealous.

Farmers Market Breakfast (or brunch, or lunch, or dinner ... you get the point)

Ingredients (for two eaters)
2 eggs
2 slices of bread
1 bunch of asparagus, cleaned and trimmed
1 bunch of ramps, cleaned and trimmed
Romesco sauce (you don't have this in your fridge at all times? Shame on you!)
Oil, salt and pepper 

Method
I start by preheating the oven to 300 F, throwing in two pieces of bread, and letting the bread toast while I make everything else.  I don't trust my toaster, mainly because it was from Freecycle, is approximately nineteen years old, and burns anything you put in it after 34 seconds at level two.

Grill your greens: start by heating a dry cast-iron grill pan to very very hot. Drizzle asparagus with olive oil and throw it on the grill, turning every two minutes.  I like my asparagus really grilled, so I grill them about ten minutes.  Add the ramps and grill for five to six minutes, until they're nice and wilty and smell delicious.

While the greens are grilling, poach your eggs.  I would type out directions how to do this, but come on, people this is easy.  Here is how I learned: thanks, Deb!  I like my eggs on the runny side, so I only poach them for 1 1/2 minutes, 2 minutes at the very most.

Get your toast out of the oven, get it on some plates, and top the slices with one egg each.  Attractively arrange your greens on the toast, top with romesco, and dig in.  Happy springtime, indeed.