The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker

You will need a skillet that you feel good about cooking egg-based things in AND that can handle going in the oven. This recipe borrows heavily from baker, food stylist, educator and cookbook author, Erin Jeanne McDowell’s ‘Smashed Potato & Ramp Frittata’. You might think me indecent for proposing it as an appropriate serving size for as few as two people but eat your first slice then look me in the eye and say with certainty that you couldn’t ever get close to eating one half of it. The potatoes are crispy and mashed at the same time, forming a crust under which the creamy-dreamy, cheesy-chivey eggs have set. This frittata shines with basically anything that’s fresh, green, and onion-y (scallions and garlic scapes also work), but I’m wildly partial to chives because of the whole sour-cream-and-onion-chips flavour profile it brings. Since ramps are in season for a literal eye blink’s worth of time, I long ago adapted by changing up the allium. The original recipe which brought forth this frittata had nothing to do with chives and everything to do with ramps (a type of wild leek). Not wanting to relegate my faithfully rambunctious chives to the realm of being a culinary afterthought, I have a predilection for holding onto recipes that centre these flavourful alliums (onion fam) instead of merely including them as an optional garnish. They have since spread out over three separate large pots in my container garden, each spring coming back with a vengeance more robust than the year prior. My chives originally came from a stranger’s particularly feral alley-side patch, of which a large clump was gifted to me, rather unceremoniously, in a plastic grocery bag. In the meantime, at least I can rely on the perennial stalwart who always, weather-regardless, has my back without fail, come every year: chives (and plenty of them).

I suppose I shall continue to lug my cucumber and tomato plant babies inside every night for their slumber, like the fragile-Victorian-children-on-the-cusp-of-succumbing-to-consumption that this season is forcing them to become. If you are a gardener currently residing in the Lower Mainland, I feel your pain! The frustration of not yet sensing the rejuvenating powers of spring because of how untenably cold and wet it has been for some of the seedlings who usually thrive by May is wildly uninspiring. Today Maciel shares a seasonal recipe that does justice to one humble yet hearty springtime ingredient: chives!

Possibilities are endless, ingredients are local, and cravings are always respected. In this column, Scout contributor and food enthusiast Maciel Pereda shares her personal recipes aimed at solving everyday cooking conundrums. Ingredients for Maciel’s ‘Early Allium’ Frittata

The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker