This was one of the coldest winters here anyone can remember and many producers harvested root vegetables from underneath a cover of snow. It was hard on the farmers but great for the carrots, which didn’t get prettier but definitely got sweeter while resting in the cold winter earth. Carrots aside, early spring is the time to eat raw vegetables, especially at Fickle Creek. Gather as many colors, textures, and flavors as you can, such as small fennel, carrots, and radishes but also sweet scallions, baby turnips, and hearts of butter lettuce. Good on their own, they are of course also delicious with homemade mayonnaise. If you have an immersion or stick blender, you can make your own mayonnaise in 2 minutes.
Ingredients
Preparation
Put the yolks from 2 large, room-temperature eggs in a wide-mouth jar and pulse for about 30 seconds with the blender. Add a good pinch of salt, a little minced garlic, an anchovy fillet or two, and a big squeeze of lemon juice, and pulse again. While pulsing, slowly drizzle in about 1 to 1 1/4 cups total oil—I like a combination of neutral vegetable oil and a little extra virgin olive oil for flavor—pulsing the blender frequently until the mixture is emulsified. Taste for salt, and thin with a little water if necessary.
