This is such a favorite i don’t know why i hadn’t put it in the recipes, and actually there’s not much to it more than the idea.
First, catch the green garlic. You can find it in farmers’ markets in the early spring, and in San Francisco it sells so well that some farmers are planting it early enough that they can bring it to market in late December, and others plant it in succession to extend the season, so somebody will have it from the first of the year well into March.
You might have passed right by it without noticing because it looks very much like green onions. The difference is that the green part for onions is tubular while garlic is flat, which means that it is virtually indistinguishable from baby leeks, at least in appearance. Pinch a leaf and smell. Or even ask.
Once you have the garlic, chop the roots off and trim any tips that have started yellowing. Then chop the stalks into thin rounds and the greens into half inch pieces.
Then heat either butter or, my favorite, toasted sesame oil in a pan (i use a flat bottomed wok) until hot and then toss in the garlic a handful at a time, starting with the stem rounds. Stir it until it has softened up and then throw in the eggs and keep stirring. I use a ratio of one stalk of garlic per egg, so for a nice lunch i use three stalks and three eggs although if the garlic is larger i cut back to two stems.
You can turn off the heat as soon as you add the eggs, especially if you’re, alas, using an electric stovetop, because the residual heat is more than enough to cook the eggs as you stir them.
Dump the mass onto a plate and eat it with salt and black pepper.
A even better variant of this recipe is to use two or three eggs, two or three strips of bacon, and two or three stalks of garlic. Chop the bacon and throw it into the wok. Turn the dial on your electric burner to High, and when the wok gets hot, stir the bacon around until most of the fat has rendered. Then throw in the chopped garlic and stir around until the rounds have softened. Turn off the heat and throw in the eggs. Stir until set and serve.