Wild Asparagus Frittata: It's Asparagus Season in Sicily

Every spring, Sicily reminds you that the best things are free, if you know where to look.

The first time I saw it, we were walking along an unmarked country road outside Palazzolo Acreide when I saw my mother in law crouch down and pull something from the grass. The fields were bright with red poppies, yellow crown daisies and tall and lush green grass. I thought she had picked me a flower. 

Instead, she proudly showed me a fistful of wild asparagus. Plucked seconds ago from the ground.

I was still processing. At that moment, I realized I never even thought of where asparagus came from or where to find it. I assumed a greenhouse somewhere. I didn't know you could pull over in Italy and help yourself. 

What is wild asparagus - and where does it grow in Sicily?

This is just another spring moment in Sicily. From March through May, wild asparagus (asparagi selvatici) pushes up through the scrubby hillsides, along stone walls, beside roads, between the olive trees. It grows thinner and more intensely flavored than the fat-cultivated kind you find at the grocery store. It tastes like the land it came from: bright, slightly bitter and deeply green. A hint of rain and sunshine packed into something so thin and unassuming you'd walk right past it.

Sicilians treat it the way they treat most extraordinary things. Casually. You see people crouching by roadsides with plastic bags. Nonnas who know every patch within five kilometers of their house. Kids who learned where to look before they learned to drink or drive (and they learn to drink before they drive). Wild asparagus season is casual. It's just what you do in spring while you’re walking or driving down the road.

The classic Sicilian wild asparagus frittata

A classic thing to make is frittata. Eggs from a neighbor's chickens, a heap of asparagus barely sautéed in olive oil, the whole thing cooked low and slow until it's just set. Then you take it off the heat and pour a little more olive oil on top — good, real olive oil, the kind that's still green and peppery and alive. You eat it warm or at room temperature, with bread, outside if possible. Or with the kitchen window wide open and curtains blowing.

It’s simply one of the best things you’ll ever eat. It costs almost nothing. It takes twenty minutes. Maybe add another twenty minutes of conversation with your neighbor to get the eggs. If you walk in any direction there is green in Sicily, you will find it. The hardest part is pulling over.

Why this recipe only works for a few weeks a year

OUR RECIPE. We make it every year when the asparagus comes up, and every year it tastes like a small miracle. Not because the recipe is special. It’s pretty basic. But because the ingredients are and because the whole thing only works for a few weeks before it's gone again until next spring.

Sicily teaches you a lot of things. One of them is that every little thing has its season. 

Some things you can't put in a tin. This is one of them. 

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