“Asparagus and Spring Allium Strata” combines my three most favorite spring ingredients:

Green garlic or young garlic with their Fabio-like, long, flowing green tops, no papery skins, and a fresher, sweeter flavor.

Spring onions or immature onions with their small, compact, and tender bulbs that boast a milder flavor.

And of course, asparagus. When I can find them, I always go for the thick stalks because they cook up more tender with a more robust taste, too.

If you’re new to stratas, just think of them as a savory bread pudding — perfect for brunch, lunch or dinner. It’s just toasted or day-old bread saturated with an eggy custard mixture much like making French toast, then layered in a baking dish with vegetables, cheese and other ingredients.

This delicious version is from “The Vegetable Eater” (Workman Publishing), of which I received a review copy. It was written by Cara Mangini, a San Francisco chef and creator of Little Eater, a produce-inspired company that offers catering and weekly meal-service delivery, and opened a number of locally sourced restaurants in Columbus, OH. She was named one of the top 50 plant-forward chefs in the world by the Culinary Institute of America and the EAT foundation.

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