Despite the evidence of the weather, it really is spring and this week, with both Passover and Easter on the calendar, it's time to celebrate, even if we have to slosh through mountains of mud to do it.

A call to Copia to see what they were cooking up by way of spring feasts resulted in an invitation to come take a look at their April menu, a celebration of 'the cream of the crop."

What a breath of spring it was. Copia's styling wizard Eric Chandler, had created a miniature world of flowers and mossy twigs: It looked like a bower out of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," just waiting for elves and fairies to slip in to dine.

Amidst this visual feast, he'd arranged the elements of a menu that was striking in its simplicity: roasted lamb, new potatoes, artichokes and, for dessert, a chocolate pot de creme. It's the quality of the products that makes the meal memorable, said Jacquelyn Buchanan, who has just recently joined the Copia staff as associate director of culinary programs, including the Taste of Copia lunches where the menu is being served on Fridays in April.

Buchanan, who formerly worked in the kitchens of George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, said they harkened back to the culinary inspiration for Copia, Julia Child, for the lamb recipe they are using, a roasted leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary; and they have gone to Child's favorite source for lamb as well, Jamison Farm in Pennsylvania, which is shipping out lamb to Copia during April.

Sukey and Bob Jamison's farm in Latrobe, Penn has been producing award-winning grass-fed lamb for 25 years. "They use Dorset rather than Suffolk lamb," Buchanan said. "They're grass fed, on beautiful grass and clover Š the tenderness and flavor is striking."

In her opus, "The Way to Cook," Child writes, "Like a great roast beef, a whole leg of lamb is a welcome sight on the family dinner table Š Pink juicy lamb is marvelous eaten hot, the leftovers are delicious with a salad of tomatoes or in sandwiches, ground lamb makes a moussaka or stuffs a cabbage, and lamb bones produce one of the great soups, Scotch broth.

Her recipe, titled "Julia Child's Favorite Jamison Lamb," calls for a boned and butterflied leg of lamb. "A butterflied leg of lamb cooks in a third the usual time and is a breeze to carve," she writes. "If your butcher does not go in for butterflying, it is easy enough to do yourself."

Her directions are illustrated step by step in "The Way to Cook."

A six and a half pound leg serves 10 to 12 people, she notes. "If you are having fewer guests, gut off a nice lobe of meat and save it for another meal."

She also notes "lamb is done when the flesh has just achieved a springy texture to the pressure of your finger, in contrast to its squishy feel when rawŠ Let it sit 10 to 15 minutes before carving so the juices can retreat back into the tissues."

The Jamisons do ship their lamb, Buchanan said. It can be ordered through the Web site, www.jamisonfarm.com.

A locally recommended purveyor of fresh lamb Don Watson, whose Napa Valley lamb is served in Julia's Kitchen at Copia.

With the lamb, Buchanan is serving parslied new potatoes, just harvested from the Copia gardens. She had a variety of red, yellow and purple, cooked simply in boiling salted water, tossed with butter, salt and pepper.

With artichokes arriving in the markets, her choice was to fill cooked artichokes with a lemon aoili, a garlic-flavored mayonnaise.

For dessert, Nicole Plue shares a recipe for a chocolate pot de creme, a gelatin based creation that gets an unusual twist with an infusion of bay leaves, served with chantilly cream and orange chocolate chip shortbread.

The Copia Wine Guys, Peter Marks and Burke Owens paired this meal with three Napa wines: a Selene 2005 Sauvignon Blanc, from Hyde Vineyard in Carneros; a Gargiulo 2003 Super Oakville Red; and a Peter Franus 2003 Zinfandel, from Brandlin Vineyard on Mount Veeder.